Napoleon's letters to Josephine, 1796-1812;

LIBRARY

UNVRSTY OF

CALIFORNIA

SAN DIEGO

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS
TO JOSEPHINE

" When 'all the lesser tumults, and lesser men of our age,
shall have passed away into the darkness oj oblivion,
history will still inscribe one mighty era with the majestic
name of Napoleon." LOCKHART (in Lang's " Life and
Letters of J. G. Lockhart," 1897, vol. i. 170).

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS
TO JOSEPHINE

FOR THE FIRST TIME COLLECTED AND

TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES SOCIAL,

HISTORICAL, AND CHRONOLOGICAL,

FROM CONTEMPORARY SOURCES

BY

HENRY FOLJAMBE HALL

F.R.Hisr.S.

1901

LONDON: J. M. DENT & CO.
NEW YORK : E. P. BUTTON fr CO.

Printed by BALLANTTNE, HANSON tS* Co.
At the Ballantyne Press

PREFACE

I HAVE no apology to offer for the subject of this book, in view
of Lord Rosebery's testimony that, until recently, we knew
nothing about Napoleon, and even now " prefer to drink at any
other source than the original."

" Study of Napoleon's utterances, apart from any attempt to
discover the secret of his prodigious exploits, cannot be con-
sidered as lost time." It is then absolutely necessary that we
should, in the words of an eminent but unsympathetic divine,
know something of the "domestic side of the monster," first
hand from his own correspondence, confirmed or corrected by
contemporaries. There is no master mind that we can less afford
to be ignorant of. To know more of the doings of Pericles and
Aspasia, of the two Caesars and the Serpent of old Nile, of Mary
Stuart and Rizzio, of the Green Faction and the Blue, of Orsini
and Colonna, than of the Bonapartes and Beauharnais, is worthy
of a student of folklore rather than of history.

Napoleon was not only a King of Kings, he was a King of
Words and of Facts, which " are the sons of heaven, while words
are the daughters of earth," and whose progeny, the Genii of the
Code, still dominates Christendom. 1 In the hurly-burly of the
French War, on the chilling morrow of its balance-sheet, in the
Janus alliance of the Second Empire, we could not get rid of the
nightmare of the Great Shadow. Most modern works on the
Napoleonic period (Lord Rosebery's " Last Phase " being a
brilliant exception) seem to be (i) too long, (2) too little con-
fined to contemporary sources. The first fault, especially if
merely discursive enthusiasm, is excusable, the latter pernicious,

1 See infra. Napoleon's Heritage, p. xxiv., Introduction.

vi PREFACE

for, as Dr. Johnson says of Robertson, "You are sure he does
not know the people whom he paints, so you cannot suppose
a likeness. Characters should never be given by a historian
unless he knew the people whom he describes, or copies from those
who knew him"

Now, if ever, we must fix and crystallise the life-work of
Napoleon for posterity, for " when an opinion has once become
popular, very few are willing to oppose it. Idleness is more
willing to credit than inquire . . . and he that writes merely
for sale is tempted to court purchasers by flattering the preju-
dices of the public." x We have accumulated practically all the
evidence, and are not yet so remote from the aspirations and
springs of action of a century ago as to be out of touch with
them. The Vaccination and Education questions are still before
us ; so is the cure of croup and the composition of electricity.
We have special reasons for sympathy with the first failures of
Fulton, and can appreciate Napoleon's primitive but effective
expedients for modern telegraphy and transport, which were as
far in advance of his era as his nephew's ignorance of railway
warfare in 1870 was behind it. We must admire The Man 2
who found within the fields of France the command of the
Tropics, and who needed nothing but time to prosper Corsican
cotton and Solingen steel. The man's words and deeds are still
vigorous and alive ; in another generation many of them will be
dead as Marley " dead as a door-nail." Let us then each to his
task, and each try, as best he may, to weigh in honest scales the
modern Hannibal "our last great man," 3 "the mightiest genius
of two thousand years." 4

H. F. HALL.

1 Dr. Johnson (Gentleman's Magazine, 1760), in defence of Mary Stuart.

2 L'Homme, so spoken of during the Empire, outside military circles.
5 Carlyle. 4 Napier.

INTRODUCTION

Difficulties of translation Napoleon as lexicographer and bookworm Historic
value of his Bulletins A few aspects of Napoleon's character " Approfon-
dissez ! " The need of a Creator The influence of sea power England's
future rival Napoleon as average adjuster His use of Freemasonry Of the
Catholics and of the Jews His neglect of women in politics Josephine a
failure His incessant work, "which knew no rest save change of occupa-
tion " His attachment to early friendships The Bonaparte family His
influence on literary men Conversations with Wieland and Miiller Verdict
of a British tar The character of Josephine Sources of the Letters The
Tennant Collection The Didot Collection Archibald Constable and Sir
Walter Scott Correspondence of Napoleon I. Report of the Commission
Contemporary sources The Diary Napoleon's heritage.

NAPOLEON is by no means an easy writer to translate adequately.
He had always a terse, concise mode of speaking, and this, with
the constant habit of dictating, became accentuated. Whenever
he could use a short, compact word he did so. The greatest temp-
tation has been to render his very modern ideas by modern collo-
quialisms. Occasionally, where Murray's Dictionary proves that
the word was in vogue a century ago, we have used a some-
what rarer word than Napoleon's equivalent, as e.g. "coolth,"
in Letter No. 6, Series B (pendant le frais\ in order to preserve
as far as possible the brevity and crispness of the original.
Napoleon's vocabulary was not specially wide, but always
exact. In expletive it was extensive and peculiar. Judging
his brother by himself, he did not consider Lucien sufficient of
a purist in French literature to write epics ; and the same
remark would have been partly true of the Emperor, who,

viii INTRODUCTION

however, was always at considerable pains to verity any word of
which he did not know the exact meaning. 1 His own appetite
for literature was enormous, especially during the year's garrison
life he spent at Valence, where he read and re-read the contents
of a bouquiniste' s shop, and, what is more, remembered them, so
much so that, nearly a quarter of a century later, he was able to
correct the dates of ecclesiastical experts at Erfurt. Whatever
he says or whatever he writes, one always finds a specific gravity
of stark, staring facts altogether abnormal. For generations it
was the fashion to consider " as false as a bulletin " peculiar to
Napoleon's despatches ; but the publication of Napoleon's corre-
spondence, by order of Napoleon III., has changed all that. In
the first place, as to dates. Not only have Haydn, Woodward
and Gates, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica made mistakes during
this period, but even the Biographie Universelle (usually so careful)
is not immaculate. Secondly, with regard to the descriptions of
the battles. We have never found one that in accuracy and
truthfulness would not compare to conspicuous advantage with
some of those with which we were only too familiar in December
1899. Napoleon was sometimes 1200 miles away from home;
he had to gauge the effect of his bulletins from one end to the
other of the largest effective empire that the world has ever seen,
and, like Dr. Johnson in Fleet Street reporting Parliamentary
debates (but with a hundred times more reason), he was deter-
mined not to let the other dogs have the best of it. The notes
on the battles of Eylau (Series H) and Essling (Series L), the two
most conspicuous examples of where it was necessary to colour

1 Sometimes he is perhaps more to be trusted than the leading lexicographer,
as for example when, the day after Wagram, he writes his Minister of War that
the coup dejarnac will come from the English in Spain. Now, when the Jarnac
in question was slain in fair fight by La Chateignerie by a blow au jarrel, it was
an unexpected blow, but not surely, as Littre tells us, manauvre perfide, dtlc-yale.
Nothing was too disloyal for perfidious Albion, but for 30,000 English to out-
manoeuvre three marshals and 100,000 French veterans would be, and was, the
unexpected which happened at Talavera three weeks later.

INTRODUCTION ix

the bulletins, will show what is meant. Carlyle was the first to
point out that his despatches are as instinct with genius as his
conquests his very words have "Austerlitz battles" in them.
The reference to "General Danube," in 1809, as the best general
the Austrians had, was one of those flashes of inspiration which
military writers, from Napoleon to Lord Wolseley, have shown
to be a determining factor in every doubtful fray.

" Approfondissez go to the bottom of things," wrote Lord
Chesterfield ; and this might have been the life-motto of the
Emperor. But to adopt this fundamental common-sense with
regard to the character of Napoleon is almost impossible ; it is, to
use the metaphor of Lord Rosebery, like trying to span a moun-
tain with a tape. We can but indicate a few leading features.
In the first place, he had, like the great Stagirite, an eye at once
telescopic and microscopic. Beyond the mtcanique clleste, be-
yond the nebulous reign of chaos and old night, his ken pierced
the primal truth the need of a Creator : " not every one can be
an atheist who wishes it." No man saw deeper into the causes
of things. The influence of sea power on history, to take one
example, was never absent from his thoughts. Slowly and labori-
ously he built and rebuilt his fleets, only to fall into the hands of his
" Punic " rival. Beaten at sea, he has but two weapons left against
England to " conquer her by land," or to stir up a maritime
rival who will sooner or later avenge him. We have the Emperor
Alexander's testimony from the merchants of Manchester, Bir-
mingham, and Liverpool how nearly his Continental System had
ruined us. The rival raised up beyond the western waves by the
astute sale of Louisiana is still growing. In less than a decade
Napoleon had afirst crumb of comfort (when such crumbswere rare)
in hearing of the victories of the Constitution over British frigates.

As for his microscopic eye, we know of nothing like it in all
history. In focussing the facets, we seem to shadow out the
main secret of his success his ceaseless survey of all sorts and

x INTRODUCTION

conditions of knowledge. " Never despise local information," he
wrote Murat, who was at Naples, little anticipating the extremes
of good and evil fortune which awaited him there. Another
characteristic one in which he surpassed alike the theory of
Macchiavelli and the practice of the Medici was his use of la
bascule, with himself as equilibrist or average adjuster, as the only
safe principle of government. Opinions on the whole l lean to
the idea that, up to the First Consulate, Napoleon was an active
Freemason, at a time when politics were permitted, and when the
Grand Orient, having initiated Voltaire almost on his deathbed,
and having been submerged by the Terror, was beginning to
show new life. In any case, we have in O'Meara the Emperor's
statement (and this is rather against the theory of Napoleon
being more than his brother Joseph, a mere patron of the craft)
that he encouraged the brotherhood. Cambaceres had more
Masonic degrees than probably any man before or since, and no
man was so long and so consistently trusted by Napoleon, with
one short and significant exception. Then there was the gen-
darmerie (TeUte, then the ordinary police, the myrmidons of
Fouche of Nantes in fact, if we take Lord Rosebery literally,
Napoleon had " half-a-dozen police agencies of his own." There
was also Talleyrand and, during the Concordats, the whole priest-
craft of Christendom as enlisting sergeants and spies extraordinary
for the Emperor. Finally, when he wishes to attack Russia, he
convokes a Sanhedrim at Paris, and wins the active sympathies of
Israel. " He was his own War Office, his own Foreign Office, his
own Admiralty." 2 His weak spot was his neglect of woman as
a political factor ; this department he left to Josephine, who was a
failure. She gained popularity, but no converts. The Faubourg
St. Germain mistrusted a woman whose chief friend was the wife
of Thermidorian Tallien Notre Dame de Septembre. In vain

1 Findel's History of Framasonty.

2 Lord Rosebery.

INTRODUCTION xi

Napoleon raged and stormed about the Tallien friendship, till his
final mandate in 1806 ; and then it was too late.

Another characteristic, very marked in these Home Letters,
is the desire not to give his wife anxiety. His ailments and his
difficulties are always minimised.

Perhaps no man ever worked so hard physically and mentally
as Napoleon from 1796 to 1814. Lord Rosebery reminds us that
" he would post from Poland to Paris, summon a council at once,
and preside over it with his usual vigour and acuteness." And
his councils were no joke ; they would last eight or ten hours.
Once, at two o'clock in the morning, the councillors were all
worn-out ; the Minister of Marine was fast asleep. Napoleon
still urged them to further deliberation : " Come, gentlemen, pull
yourselves together ; it is only two o'clock, we must earn the
money that the nation gives us." The Commission who first
sifted the Correspondence may well speak of the ceaseless workings
of that mind, which knew no rest save change of occupation, and of
" that universal intelligence from which nothing escaped." The
chief fault in Napoleon as a statesman was intrinsically a virtue,
viz., his good nature. There was, as Sir Walter Scott has said,
" gentleness and even softness in his character. It was his
common and expressive phrase that the heart of a politician
should be in his head ; but his feelings sometimes surprised him
in a gentler mood."

To be a relation of his own or his wife's, to have been a
friend in his time of stress, was to have a claim on Napoleon's
support which no subsequent treachery to himself could efface.
From the days of his new power political power, first the Con-
sulate and then the Empire he lavished gifts and favours even
on the most undeserving of his early comrades. Fouche, Talleyrand,
Bernadotte were forgiven once, twice, and again, to his own final
ruin. Like Medea, one of whose other exploits he had evoked in
a bulletin, he could say but to his honour and not to his shame

xii INTRODUCTION

" Si possem, sanior essem.

Sed trahit invitam nova vis ; aliudque Cupido, ,

Mens aliud suadet. Video meliora, proboque
Deteriora sequor."

Treachery and peculation against the State was different, as
Moreau, Bourrienne, and even Massena and Murat discovered.

As for his family, they were a flabby and somewhat sensual
lot, with the exception of Lucien, who was sufficiently capable
to be hopelessly impracticable. He was, however, infinitely more
competent than the effeminate Joseph and the melancholy Louis,
and seems to have had more command of parliamentary oratory
than Napoleon himself.

Napoleon's influence on literary men may be gauged by what
Wieland l and Mtiller 2 reported of their interview with him at
Erfurt. That with Wieland took place at the ball which followed
the entertainment on the field of Jena. " I was presented," he
says, " by the Duchess of Weimar, with the usual ceremonies ;
he then paid me some compliments in an affable tone, and looked
steadfastly at me. Few men have appeared to me to possess, in
the same degree, the art of reading at the first glance the thoughts
of other men. He saw, in an instant, that notwithstanding my
celebrity I was simple in my manners and void of pretension ;
and, as he seemed desirous of making a favourable impression on
me, he assumed the tone most likely to attain his end. I have
never beheld any one more calm, more simple, more mild, or less
ostentatious in appearance ; nothing about him indicated the feel-
ing of power in a great monarch ; he spoke to me as an old
acquaintance would speak to an equal ; and what was more
extraordinary on his part, he conversed with me exclusively for
an hour and a half, to the great surprise of the whole assembly."

1 This versatile writer, the author of Oberon, the translator of Lucian and
Shakespeare, and the founder of psychological romance in Germany, was then in
his seventy-fifth year.

2 The historian (1755-1809), " the Thucydides of Switzerland."

INTRODUCTION xiii

Wieland has related part of their conversation, which is, as it
could not fail to be, highly interesting. They touched on a
variety of subjects ; among others, the ancients. Napoleon de-
clared his preference of the Romans to the Greeks. " The eternal
squabbles of their petty republics," he said, " were not calculated
to give birth to anything grand ; whereas the Romans were
always occupied with great things, and it was owing to this they
raised up the Colossus which bestrode the world." This prefer-
ence was characteristic ; the following is anomalous : " He pre-
ferred Ossian to Homer."" " He was fond only of serious poetry,"
continues Wieland ; " the pathetic and vigorous writers ; and,
above all, the tragic poets. He appeared to have no relish for
anything gay ; and in spite of the prepossessing amenity of his
manners, an observation struck me often, he seemed to be of
bronze. Nevertheless, he had put me so much at my ease that
I ventured to ask how it was that the public worship he had
restored in France was not more philosophical and in harmony
with the spirit of the times ? ' My dear Wieland,' he replied,
* religion is not meant for philosophers ; they have no faith either
in me or my priests. As to those who do believe, it would be
difficult to give them or to leave them too much of the marvel-
lous. If I had to frame a religion for philosophers, it would be
just the reverse of that of the credulous part of mankind.' " l

Milller, the celebrated Swiss historian, who had a private
interview with Napoleon at this period, has left a still fuller
account of the impression he received. " The Emperor 2 began
to speak," says Miiller, " of the history of Switzerland, told me
that I ought to complete it, that even the more recent times had
their interest. He proceeded from the Swiss to the old Greek
constitutions and history ; to the theory of constitutions ; to the
complete diversity of those of Asia, and the causes of this diver-
sity in the climate, polygamy, &c.; the opposite characters of the

1 Home's History of Napoleon ( 1 841). 2 Ibid.

xiv INTRODUCTION

Arabian and the Tartar races ; the peculiar value of European
culture, and the progress of freedom since the sixteenth century ;
how everything was linked together, and in the inscrutable guid-
ance of an invisible hand ; how he himself had become great
through his enemies ; the great confederation of nations, the idea
of which Henry IV. had ; the foundation of all religion, and its
necessity ; that man could not bear clear truth, and required to
be kept in order ; admitting the possibility, however, of a more
happy condition if the numerous feuds ceased, which were occa-
sioned by too complicated constitutions (such as the German),
and the intolerable burden suffered by states from excessive
armies." These opinions clearly mark the guiding motives of
Napoleon's attempts to enforce upon different nations uniformity
of institutions and customs. " I opposed him occasionally," says
Mttller, " and he entered into discussion. Quite impartially and
truly, as before God, I must say that the variety of his knowledge,
the acuteness of his observations, the solidity of his understanding
(not dazzling wit), his grand and comprehensive views, filled me
with astonishment, and his manner of speaking to me, with love
for him. By his genius and his disinterested goodness, he has
also conquered me." Slowly but surely they are conquering the
world. Of his goodness we have the well-weighed verdict of
Lord Acton, that it was " the most splendid that has appeared on
earth." Of his goodness, we may at least concur in the opinion
of the old British tar at Elba, quoted by Sir Walter, and evidently
his own view, that " Boney was a d d good fellow after all."

With regard to the character of Josephine opinions still differ
about every quality but one. Like the friend of Goldsmith's

mad dog

" A kind and gentle heart she had
To comfort friends and foes :"

either her brother Mason Cambace'res, or her brother Catholic
and unbrotherly brother-in-law Lucien.

INTRODUCTION xv

From early days she had learnt " how to flirt and how to fib."
Morality was at a low ebb during the French Revolution, when
women often saved their necks at the expense of their bodies, and
there is unfortunately no doubt that Josephine was no exception.
It is certain, however, from his first letters to Josephine, that
Napoleon knew nothing of this at the time of his honeymoon
(solus) in Italy. Gradually, but very unwillingly, his eyes were
opened, and by the time he had reached Egypt he felt himself
absolved from the absolute faithfulness he had hitherto preserved
towards his wife. On his return Josephine becomes once more
his consort, and even his friend never again his only love. Jose-
phine's main characteristic henceforward is to make everybody
happy and comfortable in spite of Napoleon's grumblings at her
reckless prodigality ; never to say No ! (except to her husband's
accusations) suits her Creole disposition best, especially as it costs
her no active exertion, and the Emperor pays for all. And so,
having been in turn Our Lady of Victories and Saint Mary the
Egyptian, she becomes from her coronation to her death-day
"The Mother of the Poor."

THE SOURCES OF THE LETTERS. These may be divided into
three parts (ist) the Early Love-Letters of 1796; (2nd) the
Collection published by Didot Freres in 1833 ; and (3rd) the
few scattered Letters gathered from various outside sources.

(ist) With regard to the Early Love-Letters of 1796, these
are found most complete in a work published by Longmans in
1824, in two volumes, with the title, "A Tour through Parts of
the Netherlands, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Savoy, and
France, in the year 1821-2, by Charles Tennant, Esq.; also
containing in an Appendix Fac-simile Copies of Eight Letters in
the handwriting of Napoleon Bonaparte to his wife Josephine."

The author introduces them with an interesting preface,
which shows that then, as now, the interest in everything con-
nected with Napoleon was unabated :

xvi INTRODUCTION

" Long after this fleeting book shall have passed away, and
with its author shall have been forgotten, these documents will
remain ; for here, perhaps, is to be found the purest source of
information which exists, touching the private character of
Napoleon Bonaparte, known, probably, but to the few whose
situations have enabled them to observe that extraordinary man
in the undisguised relations of domestic life. Although much
already has been said and written of him, yet the eagerness with
which every little anecdote and incident of his life is sought for
shows the interest which still attaches to his name, and these, no
doubt, will be bequests which posterity will duly estimate. From
these it will be the province of future historians to cull and select
simple and authenticated facts, and from these only can be drawn
a true picture of the man whose fame has already extended into
every distant region of the habitable globe.

"I will now proceed to relate the means by which I am
enabled to introduce into this journal fac-simile copies of eight
letters in the handwriting of Napoleon Bonaparte, the originals
of which are in my possession. Had these been of a political
nature, much as I should prize any relics of such a man, yet they
would not have appeared in a book from which I have studiously
excluded all controversial topics, and more especially those of a
political character. Neither should I have ventured upon their
publication if there were a possibility that by so doing I might
wound the feelings of any human being. Death has closed the
cares of the individuals connected with these letters. Like the
memorials of Alexander the Great or of Charlemagne, they are
the property of the possessor, and through him of the public ;
but not like ancient documents, dependent upon legendary
evidence for their identity and truth.

"These have passed to me through two hands only, since
they came into possession of the Empress Josephine, to whom

INTRODUCTION xvii

they are written by their illustrious author. One of the indi-
viduals here alluded to, and from whom I received these letters,
is a Polish nobleman, who attached himself and his fortunes to
Bonaparte, whose confidence he enjoyed in several important
diplomatic negotiations."

This book and these letters were known to Sir Walter Scott,
who made use of some of them in his History of Napoleon. M.
Aubenas, in his Histoire de rimperatrice Josephine, published in
1857, which has been lavishly made use of in a recent work on
the same subject, seems to have known, at any rate, four of these
letters, which were communicated to him by M. le Baron Feuillet
de Conches. Monsieur Aubenas seems never to have seen the
Tennant Collection, of which these undoubtedly form part, but
as Baron Feuillet de Conches was an expert in deciphering
Bonaparte's extraordinary caligraphy, these letters are very useful
for reference in helping us to translate some phrases which had
been given up as illegible by Mr. Tennant and Sir Walter Scott.

(2nd) The Collection Didot. This enormously valuable col-
lection forms by far the greater part of the Letters that we
possess of Napoleon to his wife. They are undoubtedly authentic,
and have been utilised largely by Aubenas, St. Amand, Masson,
and the Correspondance de Napoleon I. They were edited by
Madame Salvage de Faverolles. As is well known, Sir Walter
Scott was very anxious to obtain possession of these letters for
his Life of Napoleon, and his visit to Paris was partly on this
account. In Archibald Constable and his Literary Correspondents,
edited in 1873 by his son, we find the following :

" Letter from ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE to SIR WALTER SCOTT.

"August 30, 1825.

"I have had various conversations with Mr. Thomson on
the subject of Napoleon's correspondence with Josephine. Mr.
Thomson communicated with Count Flahault for me in the

*

xviii INTRODUCTION

view of its being published, and whether the letters could not, in
the meantime, be rendered accessible. The publication, it seems,
under any circumstances, is by no means determined on, but
should they be given, the price expected is five thousand guineas,
which I should imagine greatly too much. I have an enumera-
tion of the letters, from whence written, &c. I shall subjoin a
copy of it."

When they were finally published in 1833, they seem to have
been stimulated into existence by publication of the Memorial de
Saint-Helene, better known in England as Las Cases. Doubtless
Hortense only allowed such letters to be published as would not
injure the reputation of her mother or her relations. In the
Preface it is stated : " We think that these letters will afford an
interest as important as delightful. Everything that comes from
Napoleon, and everything that appertains to him, will always
excite the lively attention of contemporaries and posterity. If
the lofty meditation of philosophy concerns itself only with the
general influence of great men upon their own generation and
future ones, a curiosity of another nature, and not less greedy,
loves to penetrate into the inmost recesses of their soul, in order to
elicit their most secret inclinations. It likes to learn what has
been left of the man, amid the preoccupations of their projects
and the elevation of their fortune. It requires to know in what
manner their character has modified their genius, or has been
subservient to it.

" It is this curiosity that we hope to satisfy by the publication
of these letters. They reveal the inmost thought of Napoleon,
they will reflect his earliest impulses, they will show how the
General, the Consul, and the Emperor felt and spoke, not in his
discourses or his proclamations the official garb of his thought
but in the free outpourings of the most passionate or the most
tender affections. . . . This correspondence will prove, we

INTRODUCTION xix

strongly believe, that the conqueror was human, the master of
the world a good husband, the great man in fact an excellent
man. . . . We shall see in them how, up to the last moment, he
lavished on his wife proofs of his tenderness. Without doubt the
letters of the Emperor Napoleon are rarer and shorter than those
of the First Consul, and the First Consul writes no longer like
General Bonaparte, but everywhere the sentiment is fundamentally
the same.

u We make no reflection on the style of these letters, written in
haste and in all the abandon of intimacy. We can easily perceive
they were not destined to see the light. Nevertheless we publish
them without changing anything in them."

The Collection Didot contains 228 letters from Napoleon to
Josephine, and 70 from Josephine to Hortense, and two from
Josephine to Napoleon, which seem to be the only two in
existence of Josephine to Napoleon whose authenticity is
unquestioned.

(3rd) The fugitive letters are collected from various sources,
and their genuineness does not seem to be quite as well proved as
those of the Tennant or Didot Series. We have generally taken
the Correspondence of Napoleon I. as the touchstone of their
merit to be inserted here, although one of them that republished
from Las Cases (No. 85, Series G.) is manifestly mainly the
work of that versatile author, who is utterly unreliable except
when confirmed by others. As Lord Rosebery has well said,
the book is " an arsenal of spurious documents."

We have relegated to an Appendix those published by Madame
Ducrest, as transparent forgeries, and have to acknowledge with
thanks a letter from M. Masson on this subject which thoroughly
confirms these views. There seems some reason to doubt No. I.,
Series E, but being in the Correspondence, I have translated it.

The Correspondence of Napoleon I. is a splendid monument
to the memory of Napoleon. It is alluded to throughout the Notes

xx INTRODUCTION

as The Correspondence, and it deserves special recognition here. Its
compilation was decreed by Napoleon III. from Boulogne, on
yth September 1854, and the first volume appeared in 1858, and
the last in 1870. With the first volume is inserted the Report of
the Commission to the Emperor, part of which we subjoin :

" Report of the Commission to the Emperor.

" SIRE, Augustus numbered Caesar among the gods, and dedi-
cated to him a temple ; the temple has disappeared, the Commen-
taries remain. Your Majesty, wishing to raise to the chief of
your dynasty an imperishable monument, has ordered us to gather
together and publish the political, military, and administrative
correspondence of Napoleon I. It has realised that the most
conspicuous (eclatanf) homage to render to this incomparable
genius was to make him known in his entirety. No one is
ignorant of his victories, of the laws with which he has endowed
our country, the institutions that he has founded and which dwell
immovable after so many revolutions ; his prosperity and his
reverses are in every mouth ; history has recounted what he has
done, but it has not always known his designs : it has not had
the secret of so many admirable combinations that have been the
spoil of fortune (que la fortune a dejoueei), and so many grand projects
for the execution of which time alone was wanting. The traces
of Napoleon's thoughts were scattered ; it was necessary to reunite
them and to give them to the light.

"Such is the task which your Majesty confided to us, and of
which we were far from suspecting the extent. The thousands
of letters which were received from all parts have allowed us to
follow, in spite of a few regrettable lacuna, the thoughts of
Napoleon day by day, and to assist, so to say, at the birth of his
projects, at the ceaseless workings of his mind, which knew no
other rest than change of occupation. But what is perhaps most
surprising in the reading of a correspondence so varied, is the

INTRODUCTION xxi

power of that universal intelligence from which nothing escaped,
which in turn raised itself without an effort to the most sublime
conceptions, and which descends with the same facility to the
smallest details. . . . Nothing seems to him unworthy of his
attention that has to do with the realisation of his designs ; and
it is not sufficient for him to give the most precise orders, but he
superintends himself the execution of them with an indefatigable
perseverance.

u The letters of Napoleon can add nothing to his glory, but
they better enable us to comprehend his prodigious destiny, the
prestige that he exercised over his contemporaries 'le culte
universel dont sa memoire est 1'objet, enfin, I'entrainement irr-
sistible par lequel la France a replace sa dynastic au sommet de
1'edifice qu'il avait construit.'

"These letters also contain the most fruitful sources of in-
formation ... for peoples as for governments ; for soldiers and
for statesmen no less than for historians. Perhaps some persons,
greedy of knowing the least details concerning the intimate life
of great men, will regret that we have not reproduced those
letters which, published elsewhere for the most part, have only
dealt with family affairs and domestic relations. Collected
together by us as well as the others, they have not found a place
in the plan of which your Majesty has fixed for us the limits.

" Let us haste to declare that, in conformity with the express
intentions of your Majesty, we have scrupulously avoided, in the
reproduction of the letters of the Emperor, any alteration, cur-
tailment, or modification of the text. Sometimes, thinking of the
legitimate sorrow which blame from so high a quarter may
cause, we have regretted not to be able to soften the vigorous
judgment of Napoleon on many of his contemporaries, but it was
not our province to discuss them, still less to explain them ; but
if, better informed or calmer, the Emperor has rendered justice to
those of his servants that he had for a moment misunderstood,

xxii INTRODUCTION

we have been glad to indicate that these severe words have been
followed by reparation.

" We have found it necessary to have the spelling of names
of places and of persons frequently altered, but we have allowed
to remain slight incorrectnesses of language which denote the
impetuosity of composition, and which often could not be rectified
without weakening the originality of an energetic style running
right to its object, brief and precise as the words of command.
Some concise notes necessary for clearing up obscure passages are
the sole conditions which we have allowed ourselves. . . .

"The Commission has decided in favour of chronological
order throughout. It is, moreover, the only one which can
reproduce faithfully the sequence of the Emperor's thoughts. It
is also the best for putting in relief his universal aptitude and his
marvellous fecundity.

" Napoleon wrote little with his own hand ; nearly all the
items of his correspondence were dictated to his secretaries, to his
aides-de-camp and his chief of staff, or to his ministers. Thus
the Commission has not hesitated to comprise in this collection a
great number of items which, although bearing another signature,
evidently emanate from Napoleon. . . .

" By declaring that his public life dated from the siege of
Toulon, Napoleon has himself determined the point of departure
which the Commission should choose. It is from this immortal
date that commences the present publication.

" (Signed) THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION.

"Paris, January 20, 1858."

CONTEMPORARY SOURCES. It is a commonplace that the
history of Napoleon has yet to be written. His contemporaries
were stunned or overwhelmed by the whirlwind of his glory ; the
next generation was blinded by meteoric fragments of his " sys-
tem," which glowed with impotent heat as they fell through an

INTRODUCTION xxiii

alien atmosphere into oblivion. Such were the Bourriennes, the
Jominis, the Talleyrands, and other traitors of that ilk. But

" The tumult and the shouting dies ;
The captains and the kings depart ; "

and now, when all the lesser tumults and lesser men have passed
away, each new century will, as Lockhart foretold, " inscribe one
mighty era with the majestic name of Napoleon." And yet the
writings of no contemporary can be ignored ; neither Alison
nor Scott, certainly not Bignon, Montgaillard, Pelet, Mathieu
Dumas, and Pasquier. Constant, Bausset, Meneval, Rovigo, and
D'Abrantes are full of interest for their personal details, and
D'Avrillon, Las Cases, Marmont, Marbot, and Lejeune only a
degree less so. Jung's Memoirs of Lucien are invaluable, and those
of Joseph and Louis Bonaparte useful. But the Correspondence is
worth everything else, including Panckouke (1796-99), where, in
spite of shocking arrangement, print, and paper, we get the replies
as well as the letters. The Biographic Universelle Michaud is
hostile, except the interesting footnotes of Begin. It must, how-
ever, be read. The article in the Encyclopedia Britannica was the
work of an avowed enemy of the Napoleonic system, the editor
of the Life and Times of Stein.

For the Diary, the Revue Chronologique de I'Histoire de France or
Montgaillard (1823) has been heavily drawn upon, especially for
the later years, but wherever practicable the dates have been
verified from the Correspondence and bulletins of the day. On the
whole, the records of respective losses in the battles are slightly
favourable to the French, as their figures have been usually taken ;
always, however, the maximum French loss and the minimum of
the allies is recorded, when unverified from other sources.

The late Professor Seeley, in his monograph, asserts that
Napoleon, tried by his plan, is a failure that even before death
his words and actions merited no monument, We must seek.

xxiv INTRODUCTION

however, for the mightiest heritage of Napoleon in his brain-
children of the second generation, the Genii of the Code.

The Code Napoleon claims to-day its two hundred million sub-
jects. " The Law should be clean, precise, uniform ; to interpret
is to corrupt it." So ruled the Emperor ; and now, a century
later, Archbishop Temple (born in one distant island the year
Napoleon died in another) bears testimony to the beneficent sway of
Napoleon's Word-Empire. Criticising English legal phraseology,
the Archbishop of Canterbury said, " The French Code is always
welcome in every country where it has been introduced ; and
where people have once got hold of it, they are unwilling to have
it changed for any other, because it is a marvel of clearness"
Surely if ever Style is the Man, it is Napoleon, otherwise the
inspection of over seven million words, as marshalled forth in his
Correspondence, would not only confuse but confound. As it is,
its " hum of armies, gathering rank on rank," has left behind
what Bacon calls a conflation of sound, from which, however, as
from Kipling's steel-sinewed symphony,

" The clanging chorus goes
Law, Order, Duty and Restraint, Obedience, Discipline."

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages.

Series.

Dates.

Xo. of
Letters.

Sources.

Pages of
Correspond-
ing Notes.

Tennant.

Didot.

Various.

(No. 2, from St.^

1-16

A

1796

8

( Nos. )
li, 3-8 f

Amand, La \
Citoyenne Bo- |

198-211

naparte }

17-38

B

1796-7

25

( Nos. ^

1 J " 14 f

I 16-25 J

fNo. 15, from^j
I Bourrienne's 1
| Life of Bona- f
V. parte J

211-223

39-46

C

1800

4

No. 3

I, 2, 4

223-225

47-53

D

1801-2

5

all

225-231

(No. i, Corre-\

55-^o

E

1804

6

f Xos. 1
|2, 3 ,4,6J

spondence 1
No. 5, Collection j

232-237

of Baron Heath J

61-74

F

1805

19

all

237-243

(No. gA, from,.

Mile. D'Avril-

75-ii8

G

1806-7

87

all but

1 Ion V

243-264

j No. 85, from Las I

* Cases J

119-122

H

1807

3

all

264-267

123-128

I

1808

4

all

267-269

129-132

J

1808

3

all

269-273

133-140

K

1808-9

14

all

273-278

141-154

L

1809

25

all

278-295

155-165

M

1809-10

22

all

295-304

167-176

N

1810

III

all

304-310

177-181

1811

4

all

311-312

183-197

P

1812-14

2

all

3I2-3IS

242

316. APPENDIX (i). Reputed Poem by Napoleon.

317. APPENDIX (2). Genealogy of the Bonaparte Family.
317-321. APPENDIX (3). Spurious Letters of Napoleon to Josephine.

1 Exclusive of two from Josephine to Napoleon.

XXV

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

NAPOLEON Frontispiece

FROM AN ENGRAVING BY T. WRIGHT, AFTER
AN ORIGINAL DRAWING (Photogravure)

EUGENE BEAUHARNAIS . . . Face page 121
AFTERWARDS VICEROY OF ITALY (Photo-
gravure}

JOSEPHINE BEAUHARNAIS . . . Face page 198
Circa 1795 (Photogravure)

FAC-SIMILE OF LETTER, DATED APRIL

24, 1796 ...... Pages 202-3

kxvii

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

SERIES A

(1796)

" Only those who knew Napoleon in the intercourse of private
life can render justice to his character. For my own part, I know
him, as it were, by heart ; and in proportion as time separates us, he
appears to me like a beautiful dream. And would you believe that,
in my recollections of Napoleon, that which seems to me to approach
most nearly to ideal excellence is not the hero, filling the world with
his gigantic fame, but the man, viewed in the relations of private
life ? " Recollections of Cau/aincourt, Duke of Vicenza^ vol. i. 197.

SERIES A

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages i98-zn.)

LETTER PAGE

Bonaparte made Commander-in- Chief . . .198

No. I. 7 A.M 198

No. 2. Our good Ossian . . . . . .199

No. 4. Chauvet is dead . . . . . . 1 99

No. 5- Napoleon's suspicions . . . . .199

The lovers of nineteen . . . . ZOO

My brother 2OO

No. 6. Unalterably good . . . . . .201

If you tvant a place for any one . . . .201
No. 7. A criticism by Aubenas . . . . .201

June i$th . . . . . . 204

Presentiment of ill . . . . . .210

No. 8. The Treaty with Rome 210

Fortune . . . . . . .211

1796.

February 2$rJ. Bonaparte made Commander-in-Chief of the Army of
Italy.

No. I.

Seven o'clock in the morning.

My waking thoughts are all of thee. Your portrait and the
remembrance of last night's delirium have robbed my senses of
repose. Sweet and incomparable Josephine, what an extra-
ordinary influence you have over my heart. Are you vexed ?
do I see you sad ? are you ill at ease ? My soul is broken with
grief, and there is no rest for your lover. But is there more for
me when, delivering ourselves up to the deep feelings which master
me, I breathe out upon your lips, upon your heart, a flame which
burns me up ah, it was this past night I realised that your por-
trait was not you. You start at noon ; I shall see you in three
hours. Meanwhile, mw dolce amor, accept a thousand kisses, 1
but give me none, for they fire my blood. N. B.

A Madame Beauharnais.

March 9//>. Bonaparte marries Josephine.

March 1 1 th. Bonaparte leaves Paris to join his army.

No. 2.

Chanceaux Post House,

March 14, 1796.

I wrote you at Chatillon, and sent you a power of attorney to
enable you to receive various sums of money in course of remit-
tance to me. Every moment separates me further from you, my
beloved, and every moment I have less energy to exist so
far from you. You are the constant object of my thoughts ; I

1 Un millicr de laise (sic).
3

4 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

exhaust my imagination in thinking of what you are doing. If I
see you unhappy, my heart is torn, and my grief grows greater.
If you are gay and lively among your friends (male and female),
I reproach you with having so soon forgotten the sorrowful sepa-
ration three days ago ; thence you must be fickle, and hence-
forward stirred by no deep emotions. So you see I am not easy
to satisfy ; but, my dear, I have quite different sensations when I
fear that your health may be affected, or that you have cause to be
annoyed ; then I regret the haste with which I was separated from
my darling. I feel, in fact, that your natural kindness of heart
exists no longer for me, and it is only when I am quite sure you
are not vexed that I am satisfied. If I were asked how I slept, I
feel that before replying I should have to get a message to tell me
that you had had a good night. The ailments, the passions of
men influence me only when I imagine they may reach you, my
dear. May my good genius, which has always preserved me in
the midst of great dangers, surround you, enfold you, while I will
face my fate unguarded. Ah ! be not gay, but a trifle melan-
choly ; and especially may your soul be free from worries, as your
body from illness : you know what our good Ossian says on this
subject. Write me, dear, and at full length, and accept the thou-
sand and one kisses of your most devoted and faithful friend.

[This letter is translated from St. Amand's La Citoyenne
Bonaparte, p. 3, 1892.]

March 27$. Arrival at Nice and proclamation to the soldiers.

No. 3.

April yrd. He is at Mentone.

Port Maurice, April yd.

I have received all your letters, but none has affected me like
the last. How can you think, my charmer, of writing me in

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 5

such terms ? Do you believe that my position is not already
painful enough without further increasing my regrets and sub-
verting my reason. What eloquence, what feelings you portray ;
they are of fire, they inflame my poor heart ! My unique Jose-
phine, away from you there is no more joy away from thee the
world is a wilderness, in which I stand alone, and without experi-
encing the bliss of unburdening my soul. You have robbed me
of more than my soul ; you are the one only thought of my life.
When I am weary of the worries of my profession, when I mis-
trust the issue, when men disgust me, when I am ready to curse
my life, I put my hand on my heart where your portrait beats in
unison. I look at it, and love is for me complete happiness ; and
everything laughs for joy, except the time during which I find
myself absent from my beloved.

By what art have you learnt how to captivate all my facul-
ties, to concentrate in yourself my spiritual existence it is
witchery, dear love, which will end only with me. To live
for Josephine, that is the history of my life. I am struggling
to get near you, I am dying to be by your side ; fool that I am,
I fail to realise how far off I am, that lands and provinces sepa-
rate us. What an age it will be before you read these lines, the
weak expressions of the fevered soul in which you reign. Ah, my
winsome wife, I know not what fate awaits me, but if it keeps
me much longer from you it will be unbearable my strength
will not last out. There was a time in which I prided myself
on my strength, and, sometimes, when casting my eyes on the
ills which men might do me, on the fate that destiny might have in
store for me, I have gazed steadfastly on the most incredible mis-
fortunes without a wrinkle on my brow or a vestige of surprise :
but to-day the thought that my Josephine might be ill ; and,
above all, the cruel, the fatal thought that she might love me less,
blights my soul, stops my blood, makes me wretched and dejected,
without even leaving me the courage of fury and despair. I
often used to say that men have no power over him who

6 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

dies without regrets ; but, to-day, to die without your love, to
die in uncertainty of that, is the torment of hell, it is a lifelike
and terrifying figure of absolute annihilation I feel passion
strangling me. My unique companion ! you whom Fate has
destined to walk with me the painful path of life ! the day on
which I no longer possess your heart will be that on which
parched Nature will be for me without warmth and without
vegetation. I stop, dear love ! my soul is sad, my body tired,
my spirit dazed, men worry me I ought indeed to detest them ;
they keep me from my beloved.

I am at Port Maurice, near Oneille ; to-morrow I shall be
at Albenga. The two armies are in motion. We are trying to
deceive each other victory to the most skilful ! I am pretty
well satisfied with Beaulieu ; he need be a much stronger man
than his predecessor to alarm me much. I expect to give him
a good drubbing. Don't be anxious ; love me as thine eyes, but
that is not enough ; as thyself, more than thyself ; as thy
thoughts, thy mind, thy sight, thy all. Dear love, forgive me,
I am exhausted ; nature is weak for him who feels acutely, for
him whom you inspire. N. B.

Kind regards to Barras, Sussi, Madame Tallien ; compliments
to Madame Chateau Renard ; to Eugene and Hortense best love.
Adieu, adieu ! I lie down without thee, I shall sleep without
thee ; I pray thee, let me sleep. Many times I shall clasp thee
in my arms, but, but it is not thee.

A la citoyenne Bonaparte chez la
citoyenne Beauharnais^

Rue Chanterelne No. 6, Paris.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 7

No. 4.

Albenga, April $th.

It is an hour after midnight. They have just brought me a
letter. It is a sad one, my mind is distressed it is the death of
Chauvet. He was commissionaire ordinateur en chef of the army ;
you have sometimes seen him at the house of Barras. My love,
I feel the need of consolation. It is by writing to thee, to thee
alone, the thought of whom can so influence my moral being, to
whom I must pour out my troubles. What means the future ?
what means the past ? what are we ourselves ? what magic fluid
surrounds and hides from us the things that it behoves us most
to know ? We are born, we live, we die in the midst of marvels ;
is it astounding that priests, astrologers, charlatans have profited
by this propensity, by this strange circumstance, to exploit our
ideas, and direct them to their own advantage. Chauvet is dead.
He was attached to me. He has rendered essential service to
the fatherland. His last words were that he was starting to join
me. Yes, I see his ghost ; it hovers everywhere, it whistles in
the air. His soul is in the clouds, he will be propitious to my
destiny. But, fool that I am, I shed tears for our friendship, and
who shall tell me that I have not already to bewail the irrepar-
able. Soul of my life, write me by every courier, else I shall not
know how to exist. I am very busy here. Beaulieu is moving
his army again. We are face to face. I am rather tired ; I am
every day on horseback. Adieu, adieu, adieu ; I am going to
dream of you. Sleep consoles me ; it places you by my side, I
clasp you in my arms. But on waking, alas ! I find myself three
hundred leagues from you. Remembrances to Barras, Tallien, and
his wife. N. B.

A la citoyenne Bonaparte chez la
citoyenne Beauharnais^

Rue Chantereine No, 6, Paris.

8 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 5.

Albenga^ April jth.

I have received the letter that you break off, in order, you
say, to go into the country ; and in spite of that you give me
to understand that you are jealous of me, who am here, over-
whelmed with business and fatigue. Ah, my dear, it is true I
am wrong. In the spring the country is beautiful, and then the
lover of nineteen will doubtless find means to spare an extra
moment to write to him who, distant three hundred leagues
from thee, lives, enjoys, exists only in thoughts of thee, who
reads thy letters as one devours, after six hours' hunting, the
meat he likes best. I am not satisfied with your last letter ; it
is cold as friendship. I have not found that fire which kindles
your looks, and which I have sometimes fancied I found there.
But how infatuated I am. I found your previous letters weigh
too heavily on my mind. The revolution which they produced
there invaded my rest, and took my faculties captive. I desired
more frigid letters, but they gave me the chill of death. Not to
be loved by Josephine, the thought of finding her inconstant . . .
but I am forging troubles there are so many real ones, there
is no need to manufacture more ! You cannot have inspired a
boundless love without sharing it, for a cultured mind and a soul
like yours cannot requite complete surrender and devotion with
the death-blow.

I have received the letter from Madame Chateau Renard.
I have written to the Minister. I will write to the former to-
morrow, to whom you will make the usual compliments. Kind
regards to Madame Tallien and Barras.

You do not speak of your wretched indigestion I hate it.
Adieu, till to-morrow, mio dolce amor. A remembrance from
my unique wife, and a victory from Destiny these are my
wishes : a unique remembrance entirely worthy of him who
thinks of thee every moment.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 9

My brother is here ; he has learnt of my marriage with plea-
sure. He longs to see you. I am trying to prevail on him to
go to Paris his wife has just borne him a girl. He sends you
a gift of a box of Genoa bonbons. You will receive oranges,
perfumes, and orange-flower water, which I am sending.

Junot and Murat present their respects to you.

A la citoyenne Bonaparte,

Rue Chantereine No. 6, (Address not in B.'s writing.)

Chausste d'Antin, Paris.

April loth. Campaign of ens (Napoleon's available troops about
35,000).

April llth. Colonel Rampon, with I2OO men, treats the attack of
D' Argenteau, giving Napoleon time to come up.

April \2th. Battle of Montenotte, A 'us tr tans defeated. Lose 3500
men (2000 prisoners}, 5 guns, and 4 stand of colours.

April l^th. Battle of Millesimo, Austrians and Sardinians defeated.
Lose over 6000 prisoners, 2 generals, 4500 killed and wounded, 32 guns,
and I 5 stand of colours. Lannes made Colonel on the battlefield.

April I 5/^. Battle of D ego, the allies defeated and separated.

April 22nd. Battle of Mondovi, Sardinians defeated. Lose 3000
men, 8 guns, 10 stand of colours.

No. 6.

CarrUj April 2^th.

To My Sweet Love. My brother will remit you this letter.
I have for him the most lively affection. I trust he will obtain
yours ; he merits it. Nature has endowed him with a gentle,
even, and unalterably good disposition ; he is made up of good
qualities. I am writing Barras to help him to the Consulate of
some Italian port. He wishes to live with his little wife far
from the great whirlwind, and from great events. I recommend
him to you. I have received your letters of (April) the fifth
and tenth. You have been several days without writing me.

io NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

What are you doing then ? Yes, my kind, kind love, I am
not jealous, but sometimes uneasy. Come soon. I warn you, if
you tarry you will find me ill ; fatigue and your absence are too
much for me at the same time.

Your letters make up my daily pleasure, and my happy days
are not often. Junot bears to Paris twenty-two flags. You ought
to return with him, do you understand ? Be ready, if that isnot
disagreeable to you. Should he not come, woe without remedy ;
should he come back to me alone, grief without consolation, con-
stant anxiety. My Beloved, he will see you, he will breathe on
your temples; perhaps you will accord him the unique and priceless
favour of kissing your cheek, and I, I shall be alone and very
far away ; but you are about to come, are you not ? You will
soon be beside me, on my breast, in my arms, over your mouth.
Take wings, come quickly, but travel gently. The route is
long, bad, fatiguing. If you should be overturned or be taken
ill, if fatigue go gently, my beloved.

I have received a letter from Hortense. She is entirely lovable.
I am going to write to her. I love her much, and I will soon
send her the perfumes that she wants. N. B.

I know not if you want money, for you never speak to me
of business. If you do, will you ask my brother for it he has
2OO louis of mine ! If you want a place for any one you can
send him ; I will give him one. Chateau Renard may come too.

A la citoyenne Bonaparte, &c.

April 28th. Armistice of Cherasco (submission of Sardinia to France) :
peace signed May 1 5 th.

May Jth. Bonaparte passed the Po at Placentia, and attacks Beaulieu,
who has 40,000 Austrian*.

May 8th. Austrians defeated at Fombio. Lose 2500 prisoners, guns,
and 3 standards. Skirmish of Codogno death of General La Harpe.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 11

May gth. Capitulation of Parma by the Grand Duke, who pays
ransom of 1. million francs, 1600 artillery horses, food, and 2O paintings.

May loth. Passage of Bridge of Lodi, Austrians lose 2OOO men
and 20 cannon.

May lOfth. Bonaparte was requested to divide his command, and
thereupon tendered his resignation.

May I 5//. Bonaparte enters Milan. Lombardy pays ransom of 2O
million francs ; and the Duke of Modena IO millions, and 2O pictures.

May 24/^-25/^1. Revolt of Lombardy, and punishment of Pavia by the
French.

May 3 0/^-3 1 st. Bonaparte defeats Beaulieu at Borghetto, crosses
the Mincio, and makes French cavalry Jight (a new feature for the Re-
publican troops}.

June ^rd. Occupies Verona, and secures the line of the Adige.

June ^th. Battle of Altenkirchen (Franconia) won by Jourdan.

June $th. Armistice with Naples. Their troops secede from the
Austrian army.

No. 7.
To JOSEPHINE.

Tortona, Noon^ June i$th.

My life is a perpetual nightmare. A presentiment of ill
oppresses me. I see you no longer. I have lost more than
life, more than happiness, more than my rest. I am almost
without hope. I hasten to send a courier to you. He will stay
only four hours in Paris, and then bring me your reply. Write
me ten pages. That alone can console me a little. You are ill,
you love me, I have made you unhappy, you are in delicate
health, and I do not see you ! that thought overwhelms me. I
have done you so much wrong that I know not how to atone for
it ; I accuse you of staying in Paris, and you were ill there. For-
give me, my dear ; the love with which you have inspired me has
bereft me of reason. I shall never find it again. It is an ill for
which there is no cure. My presentiments are so ominous that I
would confine myself to merely seeing you, to pressing you for
two hours to my heart and then dying with you. Who looks

12 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

after you ? I expect you have sent for Hortense. I love that
sweet child a thousand times more when I think she can console
you a little, though for me there is neither consolation nor repose,
nor hope until the courier that I have sent comes back ; and
until, in a long letter, you explain to me what is the nature of
your illness, and to what extent it is serious ; if it be dangerous, I
warn you, I start at once for Paris. My coming shall coincide
with your illness. I have always been fortunate, never has my
destiny resisted my will, and to-day I am hurt in what touches
me solely (uniquement}. Josephine, how can you remain so long
without writing to me ; your last laconic letter is dated May 22.
Moreover, it is a distressing one for me, but I always keep it in my
pocket ; your portrait and letters are perpetually before my eyes.

I am nothing without you. I scarcely imagine how I existed
without knowing you. Ah ! Josephine, had you known my
heart would you have waited from May i8th to June 4th before
starting ? Would you have given an ear to perfidious friends
who are perhaps desirous of keeping you away from me ? I
openly avow it to every one, I hate everybody who is near you.
I expected you to set out on May 24th, and arrive on June 3rd.

Josephine, if you love me, if you realise how everything
depends on your health, take care of yourself. I dare not
tell you not to undertake so long a journey, and that, too, in the
hot weather. At least, if you are fit to make it, come by short
stages ; write me at every sleeping-place, and despatch your
letters in advance.

All my thoughts are concentrated in thy boudoir, in thy bed,
on thy heart. Thy illness ! that is what occupies me night and
day. Without appetite, without sleep, without care for my
friends, for glory, for fatherland, you, you alone the rest of the
world exists no more for me than if it were annihilated. I prize
honour since you prize it, I prize victory since it pleases you ;
without that I should leave everything in order to fling myself at
your feet.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 13

Sometimes I tell myself that I alarm myself unnecessarily ;
that even now she is better, that she is starting, has started, is
perhaps already at Lyons. Vain fancies ! you are in bed suffer-
ing, more beautiful, more interesting, more lovable. You are
pale and your eyes are more languishing, but when will you be
cured ? If one of us ought to be ill it is I more robust,
more courageous ; I should support illness more easily. Destiny
is cruel, it strikes at me through you.

What consoles me sometimes is to think that it is in the power
of destiny to make you ill ; but it is in the power of no one to
make me survive you.

In your letter, dear, be sure to tell me that you are convinced
that I love you more than it is possible to imagine ; that you are
persuaded that all my moments are consecrated to you ; that to
think of any other woman has never entered my head they are
all in my eyes without grace, wit, or beauty ; that you, you alone,
such as I see you, such as you are, can please me, and absorb all
the faculties of my mind ; that you have traversed its whole
extent ; that my heart has no recess into which you have not
seen, no thoughts which are not subordinate to yours ; that my
strength, my prowess, my spirit are all yours ; that my soul is in
your body ; and that the day on which you change or cease to live
will be my death-day ; that Nature, that Earth, is beautiful only
because you dwell therein. If you do not believe all this, if your
soul is not convinced, penetrated by it, you grieve me, you do not
love me there is a magnetic fluid between people who love one
another you know perfectly well that I could not brook a rival,
much less offer you one. 1 To tear out his heart and to see him
would be for me one and the same thing, and then if I were to
carry my hands against your sacred person no, I should never
dare to do it ; but I would quit a life in which the most virtuous
of women had deceived me.

1 So Tennant (fen offrir un) : but Baron Feuillet de Conches, an expert in
Napoleonic graphology, renders the expression fen souffrir ,

i 4 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

But I am sure and proud of your love ; misfortunes are the
trials which reveal to each mutually the whole force of our
passion. A child as charming as its mamma will soon see the
daylight, and will pass many years in your arms. Hapless me !
I would be happy with one day. A thousand kisses on your eyes,
your lips, your tongue, your heart. Most charming of thy sex,
what is thy power over me ? I am very sick of thy sickness ; I
have still a burning fever ! Do not keep the courier more than
six hours, and let him return at once to bring me the longed-for
letter of my Beloved.

Do you remember my dream, in which I was your boots, your
dress, and in which I made you come bodily into my heart ?
Why has not Nature arranged matters in this way ; she has much
to do yet. N. B.

A la citoyenne Bonaparte, &c.

June 1 8th. Bonaparte enters Modena, and takes 50 cannon at
Urbino.

June Itytb. Occupies Bologna, and takes 114 cannon.

June 2^rd. Armistice 'with Rome. The Pope to pay 21 millions)
IOO rare pictures, 200 MSS. t and to close his ports to the English.

June 2jfth. Desaix, with part of Moreau's army, forces the passage
of the Rhine.

No. 8.
To JOSEPHINE.

Pistoia, Tuscany, June 26th.

For a month I have only received from my dear love two
letters of three lines each. Is she so busy, that writing to her
dear love is not then needful for her, nor, consequently, thinking

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 15

about him ? To live without thinking of Josephine would be
death and annihilation to your husband. Your image gilds my
fancies, and enlivens the black and sombre picture of melancholy
and grief. A day perhaps may come in which I shall see you,
for I doubt not you will be still at Paris, and verily on that day I
will show you my pockets stuffed with letters that I have not
sent you because they are too foolish (bete}. Yes, that's the
word. Good heavens ! tell me, you who know so well how
to make others love you without being in love yourself, do you
know how to cure me of love ? ? ? I will give a good price for
that remedy.

You ought to have started on May 24th. Being good-natured,
I waited till June ist, as if a pretty woman would give up her
habits, her friends, both Madame Tallien and a dinner with
Barras, and the acting of a new play, and Fortune ; yes, Fortune^
whom you love much more than your husband, for whom you
have only a little of the esteem, and a share of that benevolence
with which your heart abounds. Every day I count up your
misdeeds. I lash myself to fury in order to love you no more.
Bah, don^t I love you the more ? In fact, my peerless little mother,
I will tell you my secret. Set me at defiance, stay at Paris, have
lovers let everybody know it never write me a monosyllable !
then I shall love you ten times more for it ; and it is not folly,
a delirious fever ! and I shall not get the better of it. Oh! would
to heaven I could get better ! but don't tell me you are ill, don't
try to justify yourself. Good heavens ! you are pardoned. I
love you to distraction, and never will my poor heart cease to give
all for love. If you did not love me, my fate would be indeed
grotesque. You have not written me ; you are ill, you do not
come. But you have passed Lyons ; you will be at Turin on the
28th, at Milan on the 3Oth, where you will wait for me. You
will be in Italy, and I shall be still far from you. Adieu, my
well-beloved ; a kiss on thy mouth, another on thy heart.

We have made peace with Rome who gives us money.

16 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

To-morrow we shall be at Leghorn, and as soon as I can in your
arms, at your feet, on your bosom.

A la citoyenne Bonaparte, &c.

June 2Jtt>. Leghorn occupied by Murat and Vaubois.
June 2gtf>. Surrender of citadel of Milan ; 1600 prisoners and 150
cannon taken.

SERIES B

(1796-97)

"Des 1796, lorsque, avec 30,000 hommes, il fait la conquete
de 1'Italie, il est non-seulement grand general, mais profond
politique." Des Idees Napoleonniennes.

" Your Government has sent against me four armies without
Generals, and this time a General without an army." Napoleon to
the Austrian Plenipotentiaries, at Leoben.

SEJRIES B

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages zii-zz^.~)

LETTER PAGE

No. i. Sortie from Mantua . . . . . 21 1

No. 2. Marmirolo . . . . . . . 21 1

fortune . . . . . . . 212

No. 3. The village of Virgil . . . . . 212

No. 4. Achille 212

No. 5. Will-o -the-Wisp 213

No. 6. The needs of the army ..... 213-5

No. 7. Brescia . . . . . . . 215

No. 9. / hope <we shall get into Trent . . . . 216

No. 12. One of these nights the doors will be burst open . 2 1 6-8

No. 13. Corsica is ours . . . . . . 218

No. 14. Verona . . . . . . . 219

No. 15. Once more I breathe freely . . . . 220

No. 18. r/k29/" 220

No. 2O. General B rune . . . . . . 221

No. 21. February ^rd . . . . . . 221

No. 24. Perhaps I shall make peace with the Pope . . 222

No. 25. The unlimited power you hold over me . . . 222

10

No. i.

July $th Archduke Charles defeated by Moreau at Radstadt.
July 6th. Sortie from Mantua: Austrian! fairly successful.

To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Roverbella, July 6, 1796.

I have beaten the enemy. Kilmaine will send you the copy
of the despatch. I am tired to death. Pray start at once for
Verona. I need you, for I think that I am going to be very ill.

I send you a thousand kisses. I am in bed.

BONAPARTE.

July gth. Bonaparte asks Kelle rmann for reinforcements.
July i^th. Frankfort on the Main captured by Kleber.
July l6th. Sortie from Mantua: Austrians defeated.

No. 2.
July 17 th. Attempted coup de main at Mantua: French unsuccessful.

To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Marmirolo, July 17, 1796, 9 P.M.

I got your letter, my beloved ; it has filled my heart with joy.
I am grateful to you for the trouble you have taken to send me
news ; your health should be better to-day I am sure you are
cured. I urge you strongly to ride, which cannot fail to do you
good.

Ever since I left you, I have been sad. I am only happy

when by your side. Ceaselessly I recall your kisses, your tears,

19

20 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

your enchanting jealousy ; and the charms of the incomparable
Josephine keep constantly alight a bright and burning flame in
my heart and senses. When, free from every worry, from all
business, shall I spend all my moments by your side, to have
nothing to do but to love you, and to prove it to you ? I shall
send your horse, but I am hoping that you will soon be able to
rejoin me. I thought I loved you some days ago ; but, since I
saw you, I feel that I love you even a thousand times more.
Ever since I have known you, I worship you more every day ;
which proves how false is the maxim of La Bruyere that " Love
comes all at once." Everything in nature has a regular course,
and different degrees of growth. Ah ! pray let me see some of
your faults ; be less beautiful, less gracious, less tender, and,
especially, less kind; above all never be jealous, never weep;
your tears madden me, fire my blood. Be sure that it is no
longer possible for me to have a thought except for you, or an
idea of which you shall not be the judge.

Have a good rest. Haste to get well. Come and join me,
so that, at least, before dying, we could say " We were happy
for so many days ! ! "

Millions of kisses, and even to Fortune", in spite of his
naughtiness. BONAPARTE.

No. 3.

July iStb. Trenches opened before Mantua.

July iSth Stuttgard occupied by Saint-Cyr, who, like Kleber, is
under Moreau.

July \%th. Wurtzburg captured by Klein and Ney (acting under
Jourdan).

To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Marmirolo, July 1 8, 1796, 2 P.M.

I passed the whole night under arms. I ought to have had
Mantua by a plucky and fortunate coup j but the waters of the

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 21

lake have suddenly fallen, so that the column I had shipped could
not land. This evening I shall begin a new attempt, but one
that will not give such satisfactory results.

I got a letter from Eugene, which I send you. Please write
for me to these charming children of yours, and send them some
trinkets. Be sure to tell them that I love them as if they were
my own. What is yours or mine is so mixed up in my heart,
that there is no difference there.

I am very anxious to know how you are, what you are doing ?
I have been in the village of Virgil, on the banks of the lake, by
the silvery light of the moon, and not a moment without dream-
ing of Josephine.

The enemy made a general sortie on June i6th; it has
killed or wounded two hundred of our men, but lost five hundred
of its own in a precipitous retreat.

I am well. I am Josephine's entirely, and I have no pleasure
or happiness except in her society.

Three Neapolitan regiments have arrived at Brescia ; they have
sundered themselves from the Austrian army, in consequence of
the convention I have concluded with M. Pignatelli.

I've lost my snuff-box ; please choose me another, rather flat-
shaped, and write something pretty inside, with your own hair.

A thousand kisses as burning as you are cold. Boundless
love, and fidelity up to every proof. Before Joseph starts, I wish
to speak to him. BONAPARTE.

No. 4.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Marmirolo, July 19, 1796.

I have been without letters from you for two days. That is
at least the thirtieth time to-day that I have made this observation
to myself ; you are thinking this particularly wearisome ; yet you

22 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

cannot doubt the tender and unique anxiety with which you
inspire me.

We attacked Mantua yesterday. We warmed it up from
two batteries with red-hot shot and from mortars. All night
long that wretched town has been on fire. The sight was
horrible and majestic. We have secured several of the out-
works ; we open the first parallel to-night. To-morrow I start
for Castiglione with the Staff, and I reckon on sleeping there. I
have received a courier from Paris. There were two letters for
you ; I have read them. But though this action appears to me
quite natural, and though you gave me permission to do so the
other day, I fear you may be vexed, and that is a great trouble to
me. I should have liked to have sealed them up again : fie ! that
would have been atrocious. If I am to blame, I beg your for-
giveness. I swear that it is not because I am jealous ; assuredly
not. I have too high an opinion of my beloved for that. I
should like you to give me full permission to read your letters,
then there would be no longer either remorse or apprehension.

Achille has just ridden post from Milan ; no letters from my
beloved ! Adieu, my unique joy. When will you be able to
rejoin me ? I shall have to fetch you myself from Milan.

A thousand kisses as fiery as my soul, as chaste as yourself.

I have summoned the courier ; he tells me that he crossed
over to your house, and that you told him you had no commands.
Fie ! naughty, undutiful, cruel, tyrannous, jolly little monster.
You laugh at my threats, at my infatuation ; ah, you well know
that if I could shut you up in my breast, I would put you in
prison there !

Tell me you are cheerful, in good health, and very affec-
tionate. BONAPARTE.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 23

No. 5.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Castig!ione y July 21, 1796, 8 A.M.

I am hoping that when I arrive to-night I shall get one of
your letters. You know, my dear Josephine, the pleasure they
give me ; and I am sure you have pleasure in writing them. I

shall start to-night for Peschiera, for the mountains of , for

Verona, and thence I shall go to Mantua, and perhaps to Milan,
to receive a kiss, since you assure me they are not made of ice.
I hope you will be perfectly well by then, and will be able to
accompany me to headquarters, so that we may not part again.
Are you not the soul of my life, and the quintessence of my
heart's affections ?

Your proteges are a little excitable ; they are like the will-o'-
the-wisp. How glad I am to do something for them which will
please you. They will go to Milan. A little patience is requisite
in everything.

Adieu, belle et bonne, quite unequalled, quite divine. A thou-
sand loving kisses. BONAPARTE.

No. 6.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Castigtione, July 22, 1796.

The needs of the army require my presence hereabouts ; it is
impossible that I can leave it to come to Milan. Five or six
days would be necessary, and during that time movements may
occur whereby my presence here would be imperative.

You assure me your health is good ; I beg you therefore to
come to Brescia. Even now I am sending Murat to prepare
apartments for you there in the town, as you desire.

24 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

I think you will do well to spend the first night (July 24th)
at Cassano, setting out very late from Milan ; and to arrive at
Brescia on July 25th, where the most affectionate of lovers
awaits you. I am disconsolate that you can believe, dear, that
my heart can reveal itself to others as to you ; it belongs to you
by right of conquest, and that conquest will be durable and for
ever. I do not know why you speak of Madame T., with
whom I do not concern myself in the slightest, nor with the
women of Brescia. As to the letters which you are vexed at my
opening, this shall be the last ; your letter had not come.

Adieu, ma tendre amie, send me news often, come forthwith
and join me, and be happy and at ease ; all goes well, and my
heart is yours for life.

Be sure to return to the Adjutant-General Miollis the box of
medals that he writes me he has sent you. Men have such false
tongues, and are so wicked, that it is necessary to have everything
exactly on the square.

Good health, love, and a prompt arrival at Brescia.

I have at Milan a carriage suitable alike for town or country ;
you can make use of it for the journey. Bring your plate with
you, and some of the things you absolutely require.

Travel by easy stages, and during the coolth, so as not to
tire yourself. Troops only take three days coming to Brescia.
Travelling post it is only a fourteen hours' journey. I request
you to sleep on the 24th at Cassano ; I shall come to meet you
on the 25th at latest.

Adieu, my own Josephine. A thousand loving kisses.

BONAPARTE.

July -igth. Advance of Wurmser, by the Adige valley, on Mantua, and
of Quesdonoivich on Brescia, who drives back Massena and Sauret.

July $lst. Siege of Mantua raised.

August $rd. Bonaparte victorious at Lonato.

August $th. Augereau victorious at Castiglione, completing the Cam-
paign of Five Days, in which io,OOO prisoners are taken.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 25

August 8/A. Verona occupied by Serrurter.

August i$th. (Moreau arrives on the Danube) Wurmser retreats
upon Trent) the capital of Italian Tyrol.

August iSth. Alliance, offensive and defensive, between France and
Spain.

September $rcl. Jour dan routed by Archduke Charles at Wurtzburg.

No. 7.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Brescia, August 30, 1796.

Arriving, my beloved, my first thought is to write to you.
Your health, your sweet face and form have not been absent
a moment from my thoughts the whole day. I shall be com-
fortable only when I have got letters from you. I await them
impatiently. You cannot possibly imagine my uneasiness. I
left you vexed, annoyed, and not well. If the deepest and
sincerest affection can make you happy, you ought to be. ...
I am worked to death.

Adieu, my kind Josephine : love me, keep well, and often,
often think of me. BONAPARTE.

No. 8.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Brescia, August 31, 1796.

I start at once for Verona. I had hoped to get a letter from
you ; and I am terribly uneasy about you. You were rather
ill when I left ; I beg you not to leave me in such uneasiness.
You promised me to be more regular ; and, at the time, your
tongue was in harmony with your heart. You, to whom
nature has given a kind, genial, and wholly charming disposi-
tion, how can you forget the man who loves you with so

26 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

much fervour ? No letters from you for three days ; and yet
I have written to you several times. To be parted is dreadful,
the nights are long, stupid, and wearisome ; the day's work is
monotonous.

This evening, alone with my thoughts, work and corre-
spondence, with men and their stupid schemes, I have not even
one letter from you which I might press to my heart.

The Staff has gone ; I set off in an hour. To-night I get
an express from Paris ; there was for you only the enclosed letter,
which will please you.

Think of me, live for me, be often with your well-beloved,
and be sure that there is only one misfortune that he is afraid
of that of being no longer loved by his Josephine. A thousand
kisses, very sweet, very affectionate, very exclusive.

Send M. Monclas at once to Verona ; I will find him a
place. He must get there before September 4th.

BONAPARTE.

September 1st. Bonaparte leaves Verona and directs his troops on
Trent. Wurmser, reinforced by 2O,OOO men, /eaves his right wing at
Rover edo, and marches via the Brent a Gorge on Verona.

No. 9.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Ala, September 3, 1796.

We are in the thick of the fight, my beloved ; we have
driven in the enemy's outposts ; we have taken eight or ten of
their horses with a like number of riders. My troops are good-
humoured and in excellent spirits. I hope that we shall do great
things, and get into Trent by the fifth.

No letters from you, which really makes me uneasy ; yet
they tell me you are well, and have even had an excursion to
Lake Como. Every day I wait impatiently for the post which

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 27

will bring me news of you you are well aware how I prize it.
Far from you I cannot live, the happiness of my life is near my
gentle Josephine. Think of me ! Write me often, very often :
in absence it is the only remedy : it is cruel, but, I hope, will be
only temporary. BONAPARTE.

September ^th. Austrian right iving defeated at Roveredo.

September $th. Bonaparte enters Trent, cutting off Wurmser from his
base. Defeats Davidoivich on the Lavis and leaves Vaubois to contain this
general 'while he follows Wurmser.

September 6th. JVurmser continues his advance, his outposts occupy
Vicenza and Montebello.

September Jth. Combat of Primolano : Austrlans defeated. Austrian
vanguard attack Verona, but are repulsed by General Kilmaine.

September 8th. Battle of Bassano: Wurmser completely routed, and
retires on Legnago.

No. 10.

To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Montebello^ Noon, September IO, 1796.

My Dear, The enemy has lost 1 8,000 men prisoners ; the
rest killed or wounded. Wurmser, with a column of 1 500 cavalry,
and 500 infantry, has no resource but to throw himself into
Mantua.

Never have we had successes so unvarying and so great.
Italy, Friuli, the Tyrol, are assured to the Republic. The
Emperor will have to create a second army : artillery, pontoons,
baggage, everything is taken.

In a few days we shall meet ; it is the sweetest reward for
my labours and anxieties.

A thousand fervent and very affectionate kisses.

BONAPARTE.

September llth. Skirmish at Cerea : Austrians successful. Bonaparte
arrives alone, and is nearly captured.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. ii.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Ronco, September 12, 1796, IO A.M.

My dear Josephine, I have been here two days, badly lodged,
badly fed, and very cross at being so far from you.

Wurmser is hemmed in, he has with him 3000 cavalry and
5000 infantry. He is at Porto-Legnago ; he is trying to get
back into Mantua, but for him that has now become impossible.
The moment this matter shall be finished I will be in your
arms.

I embrace you a million times. BONAPARTE.

September l^th. Wurmser, brushing aside the few French who oppose
him, gains the suburbs of Mantua.

September \^th. Massena attempts a surprise, but is repulsed.

September I $th. JVurmser makes a sortie from St. Georges, but is driven
back.

September l6th. And at La Favorite, with like result.

No. 12.

To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Verona, September 17, 1796.

My Dear, I write very often and you seldom. You are
naughty, and undutiful ; very undutiful, as well as thoughtless.
It is disloyal to deceive a poor husband, an affectionate lover.
Ought he to lose his rights because he is far away, up to the
neck in business, worries and anxiety. Without his Josephine,
without the assurance of her love, what in the wide world
remains for him. What will he do ?

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 29

Yesterday we had a very sanguinary conflict ; the enemy
has lost heavily, and been completely beaten. We have taken
from him the suburbs of Mantua.

Adieu, charming Josephine ; one of these nights the door
will be burst open with a bang, as if by a jealous husband, and
in a moment I shall be in your arms.

A thousand affectionate kisses. BONAPARTE.

October 2nd. (Moreau defeats Latour at Biberach, but then continues
his retreat.)

October Sth. Spain declares war against England.
October loth. Peace 'with Naples signed.

No. 13.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Modena y October 17, 1796, 9 P.M.

The day before yesterday I was out the whole day. Yester-
day I kept my bed. Fever and a racking headache both pre-
vented me writing to my beloved ; but I got your letters. I
have pressed them to my heart and lips, and the grief of a
hundred miles of separation has disappeared. At the present
moment I can see you by my side, not capricious and out of
humour, but gentle, affectionate, with that mellifluent kindness
of which my Josephine is the sole proprietor. It was a dream,
judge if it has cured my fever. Your letters are as cold as if you
were fifty ; we might have been married fifteen years. One
finds in them the friendship and feelings of that winter of life.
Fie ! Josephine. It is very naughty, very unkind, very undutiful
of you. What more can you do to make me indeed an object
for compassion ? Love me no longer ? Eh, that is already
accomplished ! Hate me ? Well, I prefer that ! Everything

30 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

grows stale except ill-will ; but indifference, with its marble
pulse, its rigid stare, its monotonous demeanour ! . . .

A thousand thousand very heartfelt kisses.

I am rather better. I start to-morrow. The English
evacuate the Mediterranean. Corsica is ours. Good news for
France, and for the army. BONAPARTE.

October 2$th. (Moreau recrosses the Rhine.)

November 1st. Advance of Marshal Alvinzi. Vaubois defeated by
Davidovich on November $th, after tiuo days' Jight.

November 6th. Napoleon successful, but Vaubois' defeat compels the
French army to return to Verona.

No. 14.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Verona, November 9, 1796.

My Dear, I have been at Verona since the day before
yesterday. Although tired, I am very well, very busy ; and I
love you passionately at all times. I am just off on horseback.

I embrace you a thousand times. BONAPARTE.

November \ 2th. Combat of Caldiero : Napoleon fails to turn the
Austrian position, owing to heavy rains. His position desperate.

November I $th. First battle of Arcola. French gain partial victory.

November i6th and ijth. Second battle of Arcola. French completely
victorious. " Lodi <was nothing to Arcola" (Bourrienne).

November I'jth. Death of Czarina Catherine II. of Russia.

November iSth. Napoleon victoriously re-enters Verona by the Venice
gate, having left it, apparently in full retreat, on the night of the i ^th by the
Milan gate.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 31

No. 15.

From BOURRIENNE'S " LIFE OF NAPOLEON," vol. i. chap. 4.

Verona ) November ityth, Noon.

My Adored Josephine, Once more I breathe freely. Death
is no longer before me, and glory and honour are once more
re-established. The enemy is beaten at Arcola. To-morrow
we will repair Vaubois' blunder of abandoning Rivoli. In a
week Mantua will be ours, and then your husband will clasp
you in his arms, and give you a thousand proofs of his ardent
affection. I shall proceed to Milan as soon as I can ; I am rather
tired. I have received letters from Eugene and Hortense
charming young people. I will send them to you as soon as
I find my belongings, which are at present somewhat dispersed.

We have made five thousand prisoners, and killed at least six
thousand of the enemy. Good-bye, my adored Josephine. Think
of me often. If you cease to love your Achilles, if for him your
heart grows cold, you will be very cruel, very unjust. But I
am sure you will always remain my faithful mistress, as I shall
ever remain your fond lover. Death alone can break the chain
which sympathy, love, and sentiment have forged. Let me have
news of your health. A thousand and a thousand kisses.

No. 1 6.
To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Verona^ November 23, 1796.

I don't love you an atom ; on the contrary, I detest you.
You are a good for nothing, very ungraceful, very tactless, very
tatterdemalion. You never write to me ; you don't care for
your husband ; you know the pleasure your letters give him, and
you write him barely half-a-dozen lines, thrown off any how.

How, then, do you spend the livelong day, madam ? What

32 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

business of such importance robs you of the time to write to your
very kind lover ? What inclination stifles and alienates love, the
affectionate and unvarying love which you promised me ? Who
may this paragon be, this new lover who engrosses all your time,
is master of your days, and prevents you from concerning yourself
about your husband ? Josephine, be vigilant ; one fine night the
doors will be broken in, and I shall be before you.

Truly, my dear, I am uneasy at getting no news from you.
Write me four pages immediately, and some of those charming
remarks which fill my heart with the pleasures of imagination.

I hope that before long I shall clasp you in my arms, and
cover you with a million kisses as burning as if under the equator.

BONAPARTE.

No. 17.

Verona, November 24, 1796.

I hope soon, darling, to be in your arms. I love you to
distraction. I am writing to Paris by this courier. All goes
well. Wurmser was beaten yesterday under Mantua. Your
husband only needs Josephine's love to be happy.

BONAPARTE.

No. 1 8.
To JOSEPHINE, AT GENOA.

Milan^ November 27, 1796, 3 P.M.

I get to Milan ; I fling myself into your room ; I have left
all in order to see you, to clasp you in my arms. . . . You were
not there. You gad about the towns amid junketings ; you run
farther from me when I am at hand ; you care no longer for
your dear Napoleon. A passing fancy made you love him ;
fickleness renders him indifferent to you.

Used to perils, I know the remedy for weariness and the ills
of life. The ill-luck that I now suffer is past all calculations ; I
did right not to anticipate it.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 33

I shall be here till the evening of the 2Qth. Don't alter your
plans ; have your fling of pleasure ; happiness was invented for
you. The whole world is only too happy if it can please you,
and only your husband is very, very unhappy.

BONAPARTE.
No. 19.

To JOSEPHINE, AT GENOA.

Mi/an, November 28, 1796, 8 P.M.

I have received the courier whom Berthier had hurried on to
Genoa. You have not had time to write me, I feel it intuitively.
Surrounded with pleasures and pastimes, you would be wrong
to make the least sacrifice for me. Berthier has been good
enough to show me the letter which you wrote him. My
intention is that you should not make the least change in your
plans, nor with respect to the pleasure parties in your honour ;
I am of no consequence, either the happiness or the misery of a
man whom you don't love is a matter of no moment.

For my part, to love you only, to make you happy, to do
nothing which may vex you, that is the object and goal of
my life.

Be happy, do not reproach me, do not concern yourself in the
happiness of a man who lives only in your life, rejoices only in
your pleasure and happiness. When I exacted from you a love
like my own I was wrong ; why expect lace to weigh as heavy
as gold ? When I sacrifice to you all my desires, all my thoughts,
every moment of my life, I obey the sway which your charms,
your disposition, and your whole personality have so effectively
exerted over my unfortunate heart. I was wrong, since nature
has not given me attractions with which to captivate you ; but
what I do deserve from Josephine is her regard and esteem, for I
love her frantically and uniquely.

Farewell, beloved wife ; farewell, my Josephine. May fate
concentrate in my breast all the griefs and troubles, but may it

c

34 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

give Josephine happy and prosperous days. Who deserves them
more ? When it shall be quite settled that she can love me no
more, I will hide my profound grief, and will content myself with
the power of being useful and serviceable to her.

I reopen my letter to give you a kiss . . . Ah ! Josephine !
. . . Josephine ! BONAPARTE.

December 2^th. French under Hoche sail for Ireland ; return " foiled
by the elements."

January *]th, 1797- Alvinzi begins his ne<w attack on Rivoli, 'while
Provera tries to get to Mantua with I I,OOO men via Padua and Legnago.
Alvinzi' s total forces 48,000, but only 28,000 at Rivoli against Bonaparte's
23,000.

January gth. Kehl (after 48 days' siege) surrenders to Archduke
Charles.

January lOth. Napoleon at Bologna advised of the advance, and
hastens to make Verona, as before, the pivot of his movements.

No. 2O.
January 12th. Combat of St. Michel: Massena defeats Austrlans.

To JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.

Ferona^ January 12, 1797.

Scarcely set out from Roverbella, I learnt that the enemy had
appeared at Verona. Massena made some dispositions, which
have been very successful. We have made six hundred prisoners,
and have taken three pieces of cannon. General Brune got seven
bullets in his clothes, without being touched by one of them
this is what it is to be lucky.

I give you a thousand kisses. I am very well. We have had
only ten men killed, and a hundred wounded.

BONAPARTE.

January iyh. Joubert attacked ; retires from Corona on Rivoli in the
morning, joined by Bonaparte at night.

January i^h. Battle of Rivoli: Austrian centre defeated. Bonaparte

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 35

at close of day hurries off with Massena s troops to overtake Provera,
marching sixteen leagues during the night. Massena named next day enfant
cheri de la victoire by Bonaparte, and later Due de Rivoli.

January i$th. Joubert continues battle of Rivoli : complete defeat of
Austnans. Provera, however, has reached St. Georges, outside Mantua.

January i6th. Sortie of Wurmser at La Favorite repulsed. Provera,
hurled back by Victor (named the Terrible on this day}, is surrounded by
skilful manauvres of Bonaparte, and surrenders 'with 6000 men. In three
days Bonaparte had taken 1 8,OOO prisoners and all Alvinzf s artillery.
Colonel Graham gives Austrian losses at 14,000 to 15,000, exclusive of
P rover a' s 6000.

January 26th. Combat of Carpenedolo : Massena defeats the Austrians.

February 2nd. Joubert occupies Laivis. Capitulation of Mantua,
by Wurmser, 'with 13,000 men (ana 1 6000 in hospital}, but he, his staff", and
200 cavalry allowed to return. Enormous capture of artillery, including
siege-train abandoned by Bonaparte before the battle of Castiglione. Advance
of Victor on Rome.

No. 21.

To JOSEPHINE, AT BOLOGNA.

Fortiy February 3, 1797.

I wrote you this morning. I start to-night. Our forces are
at Rimini. This country is beginning to be tranquillised. My
cold makes me always rather tired.

I idolise you, and send you a thousand kisses.

A thousand kind messages to my sister.

BONAPARTE.

February gth. Capture of Ancona.

No. 22.

To JOSEPHINE, AT BOLOGNA.

Ancona, February IO, 1797.

We have been at Ancona these two days. We took the
citadel, after a slight fusillade, and by a coup de main. We made
1 200 prisoners. I sent back the fifty officers to their homes.

36 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

I am still at Ancona. I do not press you to come, because
everything is not yet settled, but in a few days I am hoping that
it will be. Besides, this country is still discontented, and every-
body is nervous.

I start to-morrow for the mountains. You don't write to me
at all, yet you ought to let me have news of you every day.

Please go out every day ; it will do you good.

I send you a million kisses. I never was so sick of anything
as of this vile war.

Good-bye, my darling. Think of me ! BONAPARTE.

No. 23.
To JOSEPHINE, AT BOLOGNA.

Ancona^ February 13, 1797.

I get no news from you, and I feel sure that you no longer
love me. I have sent you the papers, and various letters. I start
immediately to cross the mountains. The moment that I know
something definite, I will arrange for you to accompany me ; it
is the dearest wish of my heart.

A thousand and a thousand kisses. BONAPARTE.

No. 24.
To JOSEPHINE, AT BOLOGNA.

February 16, 1797.

You are melancholy, you are ill ; you no longer write to me,
you want to go back to Paris. Is it possible that you no longer
love your comrade ? The very thought makes me wretched.
My darling, life is unbearable to me now that I am aware of
your melancholy.

I make haste to send you Moscati, so that he may look after
you. My health is rather bad ; my cold gets no better. Please

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 37

take care of yourself, love me as much as I love you, and write
me every day. I am more uneasy than ever.

I have told Moscati to escort you to Ancona, if you care to
come there. I will write to you there, to let you know where
I am.

Perhaps I shall make peace with the Pope, then I shall
soon be by your side ; it is my soul's most ardent wish.

I send you a hundred kisses. Be sure that nothing equals my
love, unless it be my uneasiness. Write to me every day your-
self. Good-bye, dearest. BONAPARTE.

No. 25.

February ityth. Peace of Tolentino with the Pope, who has to pay for
his equivocal attitude and broken treaty.

To JOSEPHINE, AT BOLOGNA.

TolentinO) February 19, 1797.

Peace with Rome has just been signed. Bologna, Ferrara,
Romagna, are ceded to the Republic. The Pope is to pay us
thirty millions shortly, and various works of art.

I start to-morrow morning for Ancona, and thence for
Rimini, Ravenna, and Bologna. If your health permit, come
to Rimini or Ravenna, but, I beseech you, take care of yourself.

Not a word from you what on earth have I done ? To
think only of you, to love only Josephine, to live only for my
wife, to enjoy happiness only with my dear one does this
deserve such harsh treatment from her ? My dear, I beg you,
think often of me, and write me every day.

You are ill, or else you do not love me ! Do you think, then,
that I have a heart of stone ? and do my sufferings concern you
so little ? You must know me very ill ! I cannot believe it !
You to whom nature has given intelligence, tenderness, and

38 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

beauty, you who alone can rule my heart, you who doubtless
know only too well the unlimited power you hold over me !

Write to me, think of me, and love me. Yours ever, for
life. BONAPARTE.

March l6th. Bonaparte defeats Archduke Charles on the Tagliamento.

March 2$th. Bonaparte 'writes the Directory from Gontz that "up
till now Prince Charles has manoeuvred 'worse than Beaulieu and Wurmser"

March 2gtb. Klagenfurt taken by Massena.

April 1st. Laybach by Bernadotte.

April 1 7/A. Preliminaries of peace at Leoben signed by Bonaparte.

April i8tf>. Hoche crosses the Rhine at Neuwied.

April 2ist. Moreau at Kehl.

April 2$rd. Armistice of two Rhine armies follows preliminaries of
Leoben.

May i6th. Augereau enters Venice.

June 28th. French capture Corfu, and 600 guns.

July 8tb. Death of Edmund Burke, aged sixty-eight.

July iSth. Talleyrand becomes French Minister of Foreign Affairs.

September tfh. Day of 1 8th Fructidor at Paris. Coup d'Etat of
Rewbell, Larevelliere-Lepeaux, and B arras, secretly aided by Bonaparte, who
has sent them Augereau to command Paris.

September i8/A. Death of Lazare Hoche, aged twenty-nine, probably
poisoned by the Directory, "which has recalled Moreau, retired Bernadotte,
and 'will soon launch Bonaparte on the seas, so that he may find failure and
Bantry Bay at Aboukir (Montgaillard).

September ^oth. National bankruptcy admitted in France, the sixth
time in t<wo centuries.

October 17 th. Treaty of Campo-Formio ; Bonaparte called thereupon by
Talleyrand " General Pacificator."

November i6th. Death of Frederick William II., King of Prussia,
aged fifty -three ; succeeded by his son, Frederick William III., aged twenty-
seven.

December 1st. Bonaparte Minister Plenipotentiary at Congress of
Rastadt, and

December $th. Arrives at Paris.

December loth. Bonaparte presented to the Directory by Talleyrand.

December 2'jth. Riots at Rome: Joseph Bonaparte (ambassador}
insulted ; General Duphot (engaged to Joseph's sister-in-law, Desire e}
killed.

SERIES C

THE MARENGO CAMPAIGN, 1800

LETTERS OF THE FIRST CONSUL BONAPARTE
TO HIS WIFE

^rd Outlaw. " By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar,
This fellow were a king for our wild faction !
ist Out/aw. " We'll have him ; sirs, a word.
Speed. " Master, be one of them,

It is an honourable kind of thievery."

The Two Gentlemen of Verona,
Act iv., Scene i.

SERIES C

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 223-215.)

LETTER PAGE

Christmas Day, 1799 .223

No. 3. Ivrea, May 29th ...... 224

M.'s 224

Cherries . . . . . . . .224

No. 4. Milan , . . . . . . .224

THE CAMPAIGN OF MARENGO, 1800.

EVENTS OF 1798.

NAPOLEONIC HISTORY. May 2Oth. Napoleon sails from Toulon for
Egypt.

June llth. Takes Malta; sails for Egypt [June 2Oth).

July 4/A. Captures Alexandria.

July 21 st. Defeats Mamelukes at Battle of the Pyramids, and enters
Cairo the following day.

August 1st. French fleet destroyed by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.

October Jth. Desaix defeats M our ad Bey at Sedyman (Upper Egypt).

GENERAL HISTORY. January ^th. Confiscation of all English
merchandise in France. Commencement of Continental system.

January $th. Directory fail to float a loan of 80 millions (francs), and

January 2&th. Forthwith invade Switzerland, ostensibly to defend
the Vaudois, under a sixteenth- century treaty, really to revolutionise the
country, and seize upon the treasure of Berne.

February i$th. Republic proclaimed at Rome. French occupy
the Vatican, and

February 2Oth. Drive Pope Pius VI. into exile to the convent of
Sienna.

March $th. Capture of Berne by General Brune.

April i$th. Bernadotte, ambassador, attacked at the French Em-
bassy in Vienna.

May igth. Fitzgerald, a leader in the Irish rebellion, arrested.

August 22nd. General Humbert and 1 100 French troops land at
Killala, County Mayo.

September 8th. Humbert and 800 men taken by Lord Cornwallis at
Ballinamack.

September 1 2th. Turkey declares war with France, and forms
alliance with England and Russia.

November igth. Wolfe-Tone commits suicide.

December $th. Macdonald defeats Mack and 40,000 Neapolitans at
Civita Castellana.

41

42 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

December qth. Joubert occupies Turin.
December l$th. French occupy Rome.

December 2yth. Coalition of Russia, Austria, and England against
France.

EVENTS OF 1799.

NAPOLEONIC HISTORY. January 2^rd. Desaix defeats Mourad Bey
at Samhoud (Upper Egypt}. February $rd. Desaix defeats Mourad Bey
at the Isle of Philae (near Assouan} -furthest limit of the Roman Empire.
Napoleon crosses Syrian desert and takes El Arish (February 2Oth} and
Gaza (February 2$th), captures Jaffa (March "]th} and Sour , formerly
Tyre (April $rd). Junot defeats Turks and Arabs at Nazareth {April
8 /A), and Kleber defeats them at Mount Tabor {April l6th}. Napoleon
invests Acre but retires (May 2 1st), re-enters Cairo (June l-f/A), annihilates
Turkish army at Aboukir (July 2$th) ; secretly sails for France (August
2$rd), lands at Frejus (October <)th), arrives at Paris (October 13^);
dissolves the Directory {November qth) and Council of Five Hundred
(November IO//>), and is proclaimed First Consul (December 24^).

GENERAL HISTORY. January loth. Championnet occupies Capua.

January 2Oth. Pacification of La Vendee by General Hedouville.

January 2$rd. Championnet occupies Naples.

March ^rd. Corfu taken from the French by a Russo-Turkish
force.

March ^th. Massena defeats the Austrians, and conquers the country
of the Grisons.

March 2$th. Archduke Charles defeats Jourdan at Stockach.

March $oth. Kray defeats French (under Scherer) near Verona,

April $th. And again at Magnano.

April i^th. Suwarrow takes command of Austrian army at Verona;

April 22nd. Defeats French at Cassano, with heavy loss.

April 28th. French plenipotentiaries, returning from Radstadt, mur-
dered by men in Austrian uniforms Montgaillard thinks by creatures of
the Directory.

May 4/A. Capture of Seringapatam by General Baird.

May 1 2th. Austro-Russian army checked at Bassignana.

May \6th. Siyes becomes one of the Directory.

May 2Oth. Suwarrow takes Brescia,

May 2$th. And Milan (citadel).

June $th. Massena defeated at Zurich by Archduke Charles ; and
Macdonald (June igth} by Suwarrow at the Trebbia.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 43

June \%th. Gohier, Roger-Ducos, and Moulin replace Treilhard,
Lareveillere-Lepeaux, and Merlin on the Directory.

June 2dth. Turin surrenders to Austro- Russians.

June 22nd. Turkey, Portugal, and Naples join the coalition against
France.

July i^th. French carry their prisoner, Pope Pius VI., to Valence,
where he dies (August 2gth}.

July 22nd. Alessandria surrenders to Austro- Russians.

July $oth. Mantua, after 72 days' siege, surrenders to Kray.

August i $th. French defeated at Novi by Suwarrow. French lose
Joubert and 20,000 men.

August ijtA. French, under Lecombe, force the St. Gothard.

August 27 th. English army disembark at the Helder.

August $oth. Dutch fleet surrendered to the British Admiral.

September iqth. Brune defeats Duke of York at Bergen.

September 2$th. Massena defeats allies at Zurich, who lose 16,000
men and 100 guns. "Massena saves France at Zurich, as Villars saved
it at Denain." Montgaillard.

October 6th. Brune defeats Duke of York at Kastrikum.

October 1th. French take Constance.

October i6th. Saint-Cyr, without cavalry or cannon, defeats Aus-
trians at Bosco.

October iSth. Capitulation at Alkmaar by Duke of York to General
Brune. "The son of George III. capitulates at Alkmaar as little
honourably as the son of George II. had capitulated at Kloster-Seven in
175 7 ." Montgaillard.

November $th. Melas defeats French at Fossano.

November i^th. Ancona surrendered to the Austrians by Monnier,
after a six months' siege.

November 2^th. Moreau made commander of the armies of the
Rhine (being in disgrace, has served as a volunteer in Italy most of this
year) ; Massena sent to the army of Italy.

December $th. Coni, the key of Piedmont, surrenders to the Austrians.

December i^th. Death of George Washington.

December \$th, Battle of Montefaccio, near Genoa. Saint-Cyr
defeats Austrians.

EVENTS OF 1800.

February nth. Bank of France constituted.
February 2Oth. Kleber defeats Turks at Heliopolis.
May $rd. Battle of Engen. Moreau defeats Kray, who loses
10,000 men, and

44 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

May $th. Again defeats Austrians at Moeskirch.

May 6th. Napoleon leaves Paris.

May 8th. Arrives at Auxnnne, and on the gth at Geneva, from thence
moves to Lausanne (May 1 2th), where he is delighted with reception accorded
to the French t roofs, and hears of Moreau's victory at Bibernach (May
1 1 th). On the 1 $th he hears of Desaix's safe arrival at Toulon from
Egypt, together 'with Davoust, and orders the praises of their past achieve-
ments to be sung in the Moniteur. The same day 'writes Massena that in
Genoa a man like himself (Massena) is worth 20,000. On the l6th is
still at Lausanne.

No. i.
To JOSEPHINE, AT PARIS.

Lausanne, May I5> i8oo.

I have been at Lausanne since yesterday. I start to-morrow.
My health is fairly good. The country round here is very
beautiful. I see no reason why, in ten or twelve days, you
should not join me here ; you must travel incognito, and not
say where you are going, because I want no one to know what
I am about to do. You can say you are going to Plombieres.
I will send you Moustache, 1 who has just arrived.
My very kindest regards to Hortense. Eugene will not be
here for eight days ; he is en route. BONAPARTE.

No. 2.
To JOSEPHINE, AT PARIS.

Torre di Garofolo, May 1 6, 1800.

I start immediately to spend the night at Saint-Maurice. I
have not received a single letter from you ; that is not well.
I have written you by every courier.

Eugene may arrive the day after to-morrow. I have rather a
cold, but it will have no ill effects.

My very kindest regards to you, my good little Josephine,
and to all who belong to you. BONAPARTE.

1 Bonaparte's courier.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 45

May I'jthl^th. At Martigny, "struggling against ice t snow-storms,
and avalanches ," and astonishing the great St. Bernard " with the passage
of our 'pieces of 8,' and especially of our limbers a new experience for it"
On May 2Oth he climbed the St. Bernard on a mule, and descended it on a
sledge. On May 2 1st he is at Aosta, hoping to be back in Paris within a
fortnight. His army had passed the mountain in four days. On May 2^th
he is at Ivrea, taken by Lannes on the 2^th.

No. 3.1

[_From Tennant's Tour, &c., vol. ii.]

II P.M.

I hardly know which way to turn. In an hour I start for
Vercelli. Murat ought to be at Novaro to-night. The enemy
is thoroughly demoralised ; he cannot even yet understand us.
I hope within ten days to be in the arms of my Josephine, who
is always very good when she is not crying and not flirting.
Your son arrived this evening. I have had him examined ; he is
in excellent health. Accept a thousand tender thoughts. I have
received M.'s letter. I will send her by the next courier a box
of excellent cherries.

We are here within two months for Paris. Yours entirely,

N. B.

To Madame Bonaparte. (Address not in Bonaparte's writing.)

June ist. First experiments with vaccination at Paris, with fluid
sent from London.

On June 2nd Napoleon enters Milan, where he spends a week.

No. 4.
To JOSEPHINE, AT PARIS.

Milan.

I am at Milan, with a very bad cold. I can't stand rain, and
I have been wet to the skin for several hours, but all goes well.
I don't persuade you to come here. I shall be home in a month.

1 The date of this letter is May 29, 1800. See Notes.

46 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

I trust to find you flourishing. I am just starting for Pavia and
Stradella. We are masters of Brescia, Cremona, and Placentia.
Kindest regards. Murat has borne himself splendidly.

Junc$th. Massena gives up Genoa, but leaves with all the honours of war.

June 1th. Lannes takes Pavia, 350 cannon, and 10,000 muskets.

June gth. Battle of Montebello. Bonaparte defeats Austrian*) who
lose 8000 men.

June 1 4/A. Bonaparte 'wins Marengo, but loses Desaix " the man I
loved and esteemed the most." In his bulletin he admits the battle at one time
was lost, until he cried to his troops " Children, remember it is my custom to
sleep upon the battlefield." He mentions the charges of Desaix and Keller-
mann, and especially eulogises the latter a fact interesting on account of the
false statements made of his ignoring it. In the bulletin of June 2 1st he
blames the " punic faith " of Lord Keith at Genoa, a criticism the Admiral
repaid with usury fifteen years later.

June i^th. Assassination of Kleber, in Egypt.

June l6th. Convention of Alessandria between Bonaparte and Melas ;
end of the " Campaign of Thirty Days."

June icjth. Moreau defeats Kray at Hochstedt, and occupies Ulm.

June 2$rd. Genoa re-entered by the French.

June 26th. Bonaparte leaves Massena in command of the Army of
Reserve, now united with the Army of Italy.

July yd. The First Consul is back in Paris unexpectedly not wishing
triumphal arches or such-like " colifichets" In spite of which the plaudits
he receives are very dear to him, "sweet as the voice of Josephine."

September $th. Vaubois surrenders Malta to the English, after two
years' blockade.

September i$th. Armistice between France and Austria in Germany.

September $Oth. Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between
France and U.S. agreed that the flag covers the goods.

October ^rd. To facilitate peace King George renounces his title of
King of France.

November 12th. Rupture of Armistice between France and Austria.

December $rd. Moreau wins the battle of Hohenlinden (Austrian
loss, 16,000 men, 80 guns; French 3000).

December 2Oth. Moreau occupies Lintz (lOO miles from Vienna).

December 2^th. Royalist conspirators fail to kill Bonaparte with an
infernal machine.

December 2$th. Armistice at Steyer between Moreau and Archduke
Charles (tent for by the Austrians a fortnight before as their last hope).

SERIES D

" The peace of Amiens had always been regarded from the side
of England as an armed truce : on the side of Napoleon it had a
very different character. ... A careful reader must admit that we
were guilty of a breach of faith in not surrendering Malta. The
promise of its surrender was the principal article of the treaty."

England and Napoleon in 1803.
(Edited for the R. Hist. S. by Oscar Browning, 1887.)

47

SERIES D

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 225-231.)

No. i.

The blister

. 225

Some plants .....

. 22 5

If the weather is as bad .

. 226

Malmaison, without you

. 228

No. 2.

The fat Eugene ....

. 228

No. 3.

Tour letter has come ....

. 229

Injured 'whilst shooting a boar .

. 229

"The Barber of Seville"

. 229

No. 4 .

The Sevres Manufactory

. 230

No. 5.

Tour lover, -who is tired of being alone

. 230

General Ney .....

. 231

4 s

JOSEPHINE'S TWO VISITS TO PLOMBIERES,

l8oi AND I8O2.

EVENTS OF 1801.

January 1st. Legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland.

January $rd. French under Brune occupy Verona, and

January 8th. Vicenza.

January nth. Cross the Brenta.

January 1 6th. Armistice at Treviso between Brune and the Austrian
General Bellegarde.

February gth. Treaty of Luneville, by which the Thalweg of the
Rhine became the boundary of Germany and France.

March 8th. English land at Aboukir.

March 2ist. Battle of Alexandria (Canopus). Menou defeated
by Abercromby, with loss of 2000.

March 2^th. The Czar Paul is assassinated.

March 28th. Treaty of Peace between France and Naples, who
cedes Elba and Piombino.

April 2nd. Nelson bombards Copenhagen.

May 2$rJ. General Baird lands at Kosseir on the Red Sea with
1000 English and 10,000 Sepoys.

June Jth. French evacuate Cairo.

July ist. Toussaint-Louverture elected Life-Governor of St. Do-
mingo. Slavery abolished there. The new ruler declares, " I am the
Bonaparte of St. Domingo, and the Colony cannot exist without me ; "
and heads his letters to the First Consul, " From the First of the Blacks
to the First of the Whites."

July I j/^. Concordat between Bonaparte and the Pope, signed at Paris
by Bonaparte, ratified by the Pope (August l$th).

August Ofth. Nelson attacks Boulogne flotilla and is repulsed.

August 1 5/A. Attacks again, and suffers severely.

August 3U/. Menou capitulates to Hutchinson at Alexandria.

September 2()th. Treaty of Peace between France and Portugal ;
boundaries of French Guiana extended to the Amazon.

49 D

50 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

October ist. Treaty between France and Spain, who restores Louisiana.
Preliminaries of Peace between France and England signed in London.

October Stb. Treaty of Peace between France and Russia.

October ()th. And between France and Turkey.

December i^th. Expedition sent out to St. Domingo by the French
under General Leclerc.

No. i.
To JOSEPHINE, AT PLOMBIERES.

Paris the "27" . . ., 1801.

The weather is so bad here that I have remained in Paris.
Malmaison, without you, is too dreary. The fete has been a
great success ; it has rather tired me. The blister they have put
on my arm gives me constant pain.

Some plants have come for you from London, which I have
sent to your gardener. If the weather is as bad at Plombieres as
it is here, you will suffer severely from floods.

Best love to " Maman " and Hortense.

BONAPARTE.

EVENTS OF 1802.

January $th. Louis Bonaparte marries Hortense Beauharnais, both
unwilling.

January gth. The First Consul, with Josephine, leaves for Lyons,
where,

January 2$th. He remodels the Cisalpine Republic as the Italian Re-
public, under his Presidency.

March ^^th. Treaty of Amiens signed in London. French lose
only Ceylon and Trinidad. Malta to be restored to the Order of
Knights, reconstituted.

May 1th. Toussaint surrenders to Leclerc.

May iqth. Institution of the Legion of Honour.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 51

No. 2.
To JOSEPHINE, AT PLOMBIERES.

Malmaison, June 19, 1802.

I have as yet received no news from you, but I think you
must already have begun to take the waters. It is rather dull
for us here, although your charming daughter does the honours
of the house to perfection. For the last two days I have suffered
slightly from my complaint. The fat Eugene arrived yesterday
evening ; he is very hale and hearty.

I love you as I did the first hour, because you are kind and
sweet beyond compare.

Hortense told me that she was often writing you.

Best wishes, and a love-kiss. Yours ever,

BONAPARTE.

No. 3.
To JOSEPHINE, AT PLOMBIERES.

Malmaison, June 23, 1802.

My Good Little Josephine, Your letter has come. I am sorry
to see you have been poorly on the journey, but a few days' rest
will put you right. I am very fairly well. Yesterday I was
at the Marly hunt, and one of my fingers was very slightly
injured whilst shooting a boar.

Hortense is usually in good health. Your fat son has been
rather unwell, but is getting better. I think the ladies are play-
ing " The Barber of Seville " to-night. The weather is perfect.

Rest assured that my truest wishes are ever for my little
Josephine. Yours ever, BONAPARTE.

52 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 4.
To JOSEPHINE, AT PLOMBIERES.

Malmaison, June 27, 1802.

Your letter, dear little wife, has apprised me that you are out
of sorts. Corvisart tells me that it is a good sign that the baths
are having the desired effect, and that your health will soon be
re-established. But I am most truly grieved to know that you
are in pain.

Yesterday I went to see the Sevres manufactory at St. Cloud.

Best wishes to all. Yours for life, BONAPARTE.

June 2gth. Pope withdraws excommunication from Talleyrand.

No. 5.
To JOSEPHINE, AT PLOMBIERES.

Afalmaison, July I, 1802.

Your letter of June 2Qth has arrived. You say nothing of
your health nor of the effect of the baths. I see that you expect
to be home in a week ; that is good news for your lover, who is
tired of being alone !

You ought to have seen General Ney, who started for Plom-
bieres ; he will be married on his return.

Yesterday Hortense played Rosina in " The Barber of Seville "
with her usual skill.

Rest assured of my love, and that I await your return impa-
tiently. Without you everything here is dreary.

BONAPARTE.

August 2nd. Napoleon Bonaparte made First Consul for life. " The
conduct and the language of Bonaparte represents at once Augustus, Mahomet,
Louis XI., Masaniello" (Montgaillard, an avowed enemy}.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 53

September 22nd. Opening of the Ourcq Waterworks for the supply
of Paris.

September 2$th. Mass celebrated at St. Cloud for the first time. In
this month Napoleon annexes Piedmont, and the next sends Ney to occupy
Switzerland.

October nth. Birth of Napoleon Charles, son of Louis Bonaparte and
Hortense.

October 2tyh. Napoleon and Josephine visit Normandy, and, contrary
to expectation, receive ovations everywhere. They return to Paris, November
l+th.

EVENTS OF 1803.

February i<)lh. New constitution imposed by France on Switzer-
land.

April I ifth. Bank of France reorganised by Bonaparte ; /'/ alone allowed
to issue notes.

April 2jtb. Death of Toussaint-Louverture at Besancon.

April ^oth. France sells Louisiana to U.S. for 4,000,000 (15
million dollars).

May 22nd. France declares war against England, chiefly respecting
Malta. England having seized all French ships in British harbours pre-
vious to war being declared, Napoleon seizes all British tourists in France.

May $lst. His soldiers occupy Electorate of Hanover.

June i^th. He visits North of France and Belgium, accompanied by
Josephine, and returns to Paris August 12th.

September 2jtb. Press censorship established in France.

November ^oth. French evacuate St. Domingo.

SERIES E

1804

" Everywhere the king of the earth found once more, to put
a bridle on his pride, the inevitable lords of the sea." BIGNON,
v. 130.

55

SERIES E

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 232-237.)

LETTER

No. I. Madame ........ 232

Pont de Bricques ...... 232

The wind having considerably freshened . . .232
No. 2. The waters ...... 233

All the vexations . . . . . .233

Eugene has started for Blots . . . . .234

No. 3. Aix-la-Chapelle . . . . . . .234

No. 4. During the past week . . . . . .235

The day after to-morroiv . . . . .235

Hor tense . . . . . . . .235

/ am very well satisfied . . . . .235

No. 5. Its authenticity . . . . . . .236

Arras ) August 2<)th . . . . . .236

I am rather impatient to see you . . . .236

No. 6. T. . . . . . . . . 237

B .......... 237

LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE DURING HIS
JOURNEY ALONG THE COAST, 1804.

EVENTS OF 1804.

February i$th. The conspiracy of Pichegru. Moreau arrested,
Pichegru (February 2%th], and Georges Cadoudal (March 9//&).

March 2ist. Due D'Enghien shot at Vincennes.

April 6th. Suicide of Pichegru.

April $oth. Proposal to make Bonaparte Emperor.

May Ofth. Tribune adopts the proposal.

May l%th. The First Consul becomes the Emperor Napoleon.

May I gth Napoleon confers the dignity of Marshal of the Empire on

Berthier, Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Massena, Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult,
Brune, Lannrs, Mortier, Ney, Davoust, Bessieres, Kellermann, Lefebvre,
Perignon, Serrurier.

July i^th Inauguration of the Legion of Honour.

No. i.

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.

Pont-de-Bricques, July 21, 1804.

Madame and dear Wife^ During the four days that I have
been away from you I have always been either on horseback or
in a conveyance, without any ill effect on my health.

M. Maret tells me that you intend starting on Monday ;
travelling by easy stages, you can take your time and reach the
Spa without tiring yourself.

The wind having considerably freshened last night, one of

57

58 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

our gunboats, which was in the harbour, broke loose and ran on
the rocks about a league from Boulogne. I believed all lost
men and merchandise ; but we managed to save both. The
spectacle was grand : the shore sheeted in fire from the alarm
guns, the sea raging and bellowing, the whole night spent in
anxiety to save these unfortunates or to see them perish ! My
soul hovered between eternity, the ocean, and the night. At
5 A.M. all was calm, everything saved ; and I went to bed with
the feeling of having had a romantic and epic dream a circum-
stance which might have reminded me that I was all alone, had
weariness and soaked garments left me any other need but that
of sleep. NAPOLEON.

[Correspondence of Napoleon /., No. 7861,
communicated by M. ChambryJ\

No. 2.

To THE EMPRESS, AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

Boulogne, August 3, 1804.

My Dear, I trust soon to learn that the waters have done
you much good. I am sorry to hear of all the vexations you
have undergone. Please write me often. My health is very
good, although I am rather tired. I shall be at Dunkirk in a
very few days, and shall write you from there.

Eugene has started for Blois.

Je te couvre de baisers. NAPOLEON.

No. 3.
To THE EMPRESS, AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

Calais, August 6, 1804.

My Dear, I arrived at Calais at midnight ; I expect to start
to-night for Dunkirk. I am in v^ry fair health, and satisfied

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 59

with what I see. I trust that the waters are doing you as much
good as exercise, camp, and seascape are doing me.

Eugene has set off for Blois. Hortense is well. Louis is at
Plombieres.

I am longing to see you. You are always necessary to my
happiness. My very best love. NAPOLEON.

No. 4.
To THE EMPRESS, AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

Ostend, August 14, 1804.

My Dear, I have had no letter from you for several days ;
yet I should be more comfortable if I knew that the waters were
efficacious, and how you spend your time. During the past
week I have been at Ostend. The day after to-morrow I shall
be at Boulogne for a somewhat special fete. Advise me by the
courier what you intend to do, and how soon you expect to end
your baths.

I am very well satisfied with the army and the flotillas.
Eugene is still at Blois. I hear no more of Hortense than if she
were on the Congo. I am writing to scold her.

My best love to all. NAPOLEON.

No. 5.
To THE EMPRESS, AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

Arras, Wednesday, August 29, 1804.

Madame and dear Wife, I have just reached Arras. I shall
stay there to-morrow. I shall be at Mons on Friday, and on
Sunday at Aix-la-Chapelle. I am as well satisfied with my
journey as with the army. I think I shall pass through Brussels
without stopping there ; thence I shall go to Maestricht. I am

60 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

rather impatient to see you. I am glad to hear you have tried
the waters ; they cannot fail to do you good. My health is
excellent. Eugene is well, and is with me.

Very kindest regards to every one. BONAPARTE.

[Translated from a Letter in the Collection of Baron
Heath t Philobiblon Society, vol. xiv.~]

October 2nd. Sir Sydney Smith attacks flotilla at Boulogne un-
successfully.

No. 6.
To JOSEPHINE, AT ST. CLOUD.

TrhjeS) October 6, 1804.

My Dear, I arrive at Treves the same moment that you
arrive at St. Cloud. I am in good health. Do not grant an

audience to T , and refuse to see him. Receive B only

in general company, and do not give him a private interview.
Make promises to sign marriage contracts only after I have
signed them. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

December 1st. Plebiscite confirms election of Napoleon as Emperor, by
3,500,000 votes to 2000.

December 2nd. Napoleon crowns himself Emperor, and Josephine Em-
press, in the presence and 'with the benediction of the Pope.

GENERAL EVENTS. October Stk. The negro Dessalines crowned
Emperor of St. Domingo, under title of James I.

December 12th. Spain declares war against England.

SERIES F
CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ, 1805.

' To convey an idea of the brilliant campaign of 1 805 ... I
should, like the almanack-makers, be obliged to note down a victory
for every day." BOURRIENNE, vol. ii. 323.

" Si jamais correspondence de mari a femme a etc" intime et fre-
quente, si jamais continuite et permanence de tendresse a e"te marquee,
c'est bien dans ces lettres ecrites, chaque jour presque, par Napole'on
a sa femme durant la campagne de 1'an XIV." F. MASSON, Jose-
phine, Imperatrice et Reine, 1899, P' 4 2 7'

SERIES F

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 237-243.)

LETTER PAGE

No. I. To Josephine ....... 237

Strasburg . . . . . . .237

Stuttgard 237

I am well placed . . . . . .237

No. 2. Louisburg . . . . . . .238

In a few Jays . . . . . . .238

A new bride . . . . . . .238

Elec tress . . . . . . .238

No. 3. I have assisted at a marriage . . . .238

No. 5. The abbey of Elchingen . . . -238

No. 6. Spent the 'whole of to-day indoors . . . .238

Vicenza ........ 238

No. 7. Elchingen ....... 239

Such a catastrophe . . . . . .239

No. 9. Munich ........ 239

Lemarois ........ 239

/ wa s grieved . . . . . . .239

Amuse yourself ....... 239

Talleyrand has come . . . . . .240

No. 10. We are always in forests . . . . .240

My enemies . . . . . . . 240

No. II. Lintz , ........ 240

No. 12. Schoenbrunn . . . . . . .241

No. 13. They owe everything to you . , . . .241
No. 14. Austerlitz . . . . . . .241

December 2nd . . . . . . .24!

No. 17. A long time since I had news of you . . .24!
No. 19. / aw ait events ....... 242

I) for my part, am sufficiently busy . . . 242

LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, DURING THE
AUSTERLITZ CAMPAIGN, 1805.

EVENTS OF 1805.

March l$th. Napoleon proclaimed King of Italy.

May 26th. Crowned at Milan.

June 8th. Prince Eugene named Viceroy of Italy.

June 2yd. Lucca made a principality, and given to Elisa Bonaparte.

July 22nd. Naval battle between Villeneuve and Sir Robert Calder,
which saves England from invasion.

August l6th. Napoleon breaks up camp of Boulogne.

September 8th. Third Continental Coalition (Russia, Austria, and
England against France). Austrians cross the Inn, and invade Bavaria.

September 2ist. Treaty of Paris between France and Naples, which
engages to take no part in the war.

September 2yd. Moniteur announces invasion of Bavaria by Austria.

September 2^th. Napoleon leaves Paris.

September 2Jth. Joins at Strasburg his Grand Army (160,000 strong}.

October 1st. Arrives at Ettlingen.

October 2nd. Arrives at Louisbourg. Hostilities commence.

No. i.
To JOSEPHINE, AT STRASBURG.

Imperial Headquarters, Ettlingen,

October 2, 1805, IO A.M.

I am well, and still here. I am starting for Stuttgard, where
I shall be to-night. Great operations are now in progress. The
armies of Wurtemberg and Baden have joined mine. I am well

placed for the campaign, and I love you. NAPOLEON.

63

64 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 2.
To JOSEPHINE, AT STRASBURG.

Louhbourg y October 4, 1805, Noon.

I am at Louisbourg. I start to-night. There is as yet
nothing new. My whole army is on the march. The weather
is splendid. My junction with the Bavarians is effected. I am
well. I trust in a few days to have something interesting to
communicate.

Keep well, and believe in my entire affection. There is a
brilliant Court here, a new bride who is very beautiful, and upon
the whole some very pleasant people, even our Electress, who
appears extremely kind, although the daughter of the King of
England. NAPOLEON.

No. 3.
To JOSEPHINE, AT STRASBURG.

Louisbourg, October 5, 1805.

I continue my march immediately. You will, my dear, be
five or six days without hearing from me ; don't be uneasy, it is
connected with operations now taking place. All goes well, and
just as I could wish.

I have assisted at a marriage between the son of the Elector
and a niece of the King of Prussia. I wish to give the young
princess a wedding present to cost 36,000 to 40,000 francs.
Please attend to this, and send it to the bride by one of my
chamberlains, when they shall come to rejoin me. This matter
must be attended to immediately.

Adieu, dear, I love you and embrace you. NAPOLEON.

October bth-yth. French cross the Danube and turn Mack's army.
October 8th. Battle of Wertingen. (Murat defeats the Austrian!.}
October <)th. Battle of Gunzburg. (Ney defeats Mack.]

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 65

No. 4.
October loth. French enter Augsbourg.

To JOSEPHINE, AT STRASBURG.

Augsbourg Thursday ', October IO, 1805,

I I A.M.

I slept last night 1 with the former Elector of Treves, who
is very well lodged. For the past week I have been hurrying
forward. The campaign has been successful enough so far. I
am very well, although it rains almost every day. Events crowd
on us rapidly. I have sent to France 4000 prisoners, 8 flags, and
have 14 of the enemy's cannon.

Adieu, dear, I embrace you. NAPOLEON.

October nth. Battle of Hasslach. Dupont holds his own against
much superior forces.

No. 5.

October 1 2th. French enter Munich.

To JOSEPHINE, AT STRASBURG.

October 12, 1805, II P.M.

My army has entered Munich. On one side the enemy is
beyond the Inn ; I hold the other army, 60,000 strong, blocked
on the Iller, between Ulm and Memmingen. The enemy is
beaten, has lost its head, and everything points to a most glorious
campaign, the shortest and most brilliant which has been made.
In an hour I start for Burgau-sur-1'Iller.

I am well, but the weather is frightful. It rains so much
that I change my clothes twice a day.

I love and embrace you. NAPOLEON.

October l^th. Capture of Memmingen and 4000 Austrian* by Soult.
October l$th, Battle of Elchingen. Ney defeats Laudon.
October ijth. Capitulation of Ulm.

1 J'ai coucht aujourcThui i.e. a few hours' morning sleep.

66 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 6.

October iqth. IVerneck and 8OOO men surrender to Murat.

To JOSEPHINE, AT STRASBURG.

Abbaye d' Elchingen, October 19, 1805.

My dear Josephine, I have tired myself more than I ought.
Soaked garments and cold feet every day for a week have made
me rather ill, but I have spent the whole of to-day indoors, which
has rested me.

My design has been accomplished ; I have destroyed the
Austrian army by marches alone ; I have made 60,000 prisoners,
taken 120 pieces of cannon, more than 90 flags, and more than
30 generals. I am about to fling myself on the Russians ; they
are lost men. I am satisfied with my army. I have only lost
1500 men, of whom two-thirds are but slightly wounded.

Prince Charles is on his way to cover Vienna. I think
Massena should be already at Vicenza.

The moment I can give my thoughts to Italy, I will make
Eugene win a battle.

Very best wishes to Hortense.

Adieu, my Josephine ; kindest regards to every one.

NAPOLEON.

October 2Otb. Mack and his army dejile before Napoleon.

No. 7.

October 2\st. Battle of Trafalgar ; Franco-Spanish fleet destroyed
after a five hours' fight. " The result of the battle of Trafalgar compen-
sates, for England, the results of the operations of Ulm. It has been
justly observed that this power alone, of all those who fought France
from 1793 to 1812, never experienced a check in her political or military
combinations without seeing herself compensated forthwith by a signal
success in some other part of the world " (Montgaillard}.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 67

To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

E/chingeriy October 21, 1805, Noon.

I am fairly well, my dear. I start at once for Augsbourg. I
have made 33,000 men lay down their arms, I have from 60,000
to 70,000 prisoners, more than 90 flags, and 200 pieces of
cannon. Never has there been such a catastrophe in military
annals !

Take care of yourself. I am rather jaded. The weather has
been fine for the last three days. The first column of prisoners
files off for France to-day. Each column consists of 6000 men.

NAPOLEON.
No. 8.

October 25th. The Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia swear,
at the tomb of the Great Frederick, to make implacable war on France
(Convention signed November 3rd).

To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Augsburg^ October 25, 1805.

The two past nights have thoroughly rested me, and I am going
to start to-morrow for Munich. I am sending word to M. de
Talleyrand and M. Maret to be near at hand. I shall see some-
thing of them, and I am going to advance upon the Inn in order
to attack Austria in the heart of her hereditary states. I should
much have liked to see you ; but do not reckon upon my sending
for you, unless there should be an armistice or winter quarters.

Adieu, dear ; a thousand kisses. Give my compliments to
the ladies. NAPOLEON.

No. 9.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Munich^ Sunday, October 27, 1805.

I received your letter per Lemarois. I was grieved to see
how needlessly you have made yourself unhappy. I have heard

68 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

particulars which have proved how much you love me, but
you should have more fortitude and confidence. Besides, I
had advised you that I should be six days without writing you.

To-morrow I expect the Elector. At noon I start to sup-
port my advance on the Inn. My health is fair. You need not
think of crossing the Rhine for two or three weeks. You must
be cheerful, amuse yourself, and hope that before the end of the
month l we shall meet.

I am advancing against the Russian army. In a few days I
shall have crossed the Inn.

Adieu, my dear ; kindest regards to Hortense, Eugene, and
the two Napoleons.

Keep back the wedding present a little longer.

Yesterday I gave a concert to the ladies of this court. The
precentor is a superior man.

I took part in the Electors pheasant-shoot ; you see by that
that I am not so tired. M. de Talleyrand has come.

NAPOLEON.

October 2%th. Grand Army cross the Inn. Lannes occupies Braunau.

October 2%th to October 29-30^. Battle of Catcher o. Massena with
55,000 men attacks Archduke Charles entrenched with 70,000; after
two days' fight French repulsed at this place, previously disastrous to their

No. IO.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Haagj November 3, 1805, IO P.M.

I am in full march ; the weather is very cold, the earth
covered with a foot of snow. This is rather trying. Luckily
there is no want of wood ; here we are always in forests. I am

1 The month Brumaire i.e, before November 2ist.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 69

fairly well. My campaign proceeds satisfactorily ; my enemies
must have more anxieties than I.

I wish to hear from you and to learn that you are not worry-
ing yourself.

Adieu, dear ; I am going to lie down. NAPOLEON.

November ^th. Combat of Amstetten. Lannes and Murat drive
back the Russians. Davoust occupies Steyer. Army of Italy takes
Vicenza.

No. ii.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Tuesday, November 5, 1805.

I am at Lintz. The weather is fine. We are within seventy
miles of Vienna. The Russians do not stand ; they are in full
retreat. The house of Austria is at its wit's end, and in Vienna
they are removing all the court belongings. It is probable that
something new will occur within five or six days. I much desire
to see you again. My health is good.

I embrace you. NAPOLEON.

November jtb. Ney occupies Innsbruck.

November yih. Davoust defeats Meerfeldt at Marienzell.

November loth. Marmont arrives at Leoben.

November nth, Battle of Diernstein ; Mortier overwhelmed by
Russians, but saved by Dupont.

November i$th. Vienna entered and bridge over the Danube seized.
Massena crosses the Tagliamento.

November i^th. Ney enters Trent.

No. 12.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

November 15, 1805, 9 P.M.

I have been at Vienna two days, my dear, rather fagged. I
have not yet seen the city by day ; I have traversed it by night.

yo NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

To-morrow I receive the notables and public bodies. Nearly all
my troops are beyond the Danube, in pursuit of the Russians.

Adieu, Josephine ; as soon as it is possible I will send for you.
My very best love. NAPOLEON.

No. 13.

November i6th. Jellachich surrenders to Augereau at Feldkirch
with 7000 men.

To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Vienna, November 16, 1805.

I am writing to M. d'Harville, so that you can set out and
make your way to Baden, thence to Stuttgard, and from there to
Munich. At Stuttgard you will give the wedding present to the
Princess Paul. If it costs fifteen to twenty thousand francs, that
will suffice ; the rest will do for giving presents at Munich to the
daughters of the Electress of Bavaria. All that Madame de
Serent 1 has advised you is definitely arranged. Take with you
the wherewithal to make presents to the ladies and officers who
will wait upon you. Be civil, but receive full homage ; they
owe everything to you, and you owe nothing save civility. The
Electress of Wurtemberg is daughter of the King of England.
She is an excellent woman ; you should be very kind to her, but
yet without affectation.

I shall be very glad to see you, the moment circumstances
permit me. I start to join my vanguard. The weather is
frightful ; it snows heavily. Otherwise my affairs go excellently.

Adieu, my dear. NAPOLEON.

November iqth. French occupy Brunn, and Napoleon establishes his
headquarters at Wischau.

1 Countess de Serent. the Empress's lady-in-waiting.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 71

November 2^th. Massena occupies Trieste.

November 2$tb. Army of Italy joins troops of the Grand Army at
Klagenfurt.

December 2nd. Battle of the Three Emperors ( Austerlitz). French
forces 80,000 ; allies 95,000.

No. 14.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Austerlitz, December 3, 1805.

I have despatched to you Lebrun from the field of battle. I
have beaten the Russian and Austrian army commanded by the
two Emperors. I am rather fagged. I have bivouacked eight
days in the open air, through nights sufficiently keen. To-night
I rest in the chateau of Prince Kaunitz, where I shall sleep for
the next two or three hours. The Russian army is not only
beaten, but destroyed.

I embrace you. NAPOLEON.

December ^th. Haugwitz, the Prussian Minister, congratulates Napo-
leon on his victory. *' Volla ! " replied the Emperor ; " un compliment dont
la fortune a change I'addrcsse."

No. 15.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MUNICH.

Austerlitz^ December 5, 1805.

I have concluded a truce. The Russians have gone. The
battle of Austerlitz is the grandest of all I have fought. Forty-
five flags, more than 150 pieces of cannon, the standards of the
Russian Guard, 20 generals, 30,000 prisoners, more than 20,000
slain a horrible sight.

The Emperor Alexander is in despair, and on his way to
Russia. Yesterday, at my bivouac, I saw the Emperor of Germany.
We conversed for two hours ; we have agreed to make peace
quickly.

72

The weather is not now very bad. At last behold peace
restored to the Continent ; it is to be hoped that it is going to be
to the world. The English will not know how to face us.

I look forward with much pleasure to the moment when I
can once more be near you. My eyes have been rather bad the
last two days ; I have never suffered from them before.

Adieu, my dear. I am fairly well, and very anxious to
embrace you. NAPOLEON.

No. 1 6.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MUNICH.

AusterlitZ) December 7, 1805.

I have concluded an armistice ; within a week peace will be
made. I am anxious to hear that you reached Munich in good
health. The Russians are returning ; they have lost enor-
mously more than 20,000 dead and 30,000 taken. Their
army is reduced by three-quarters. Buxhowden, their general-
in-chief, was killed. I have 3000 wounded and 700 to 800
dead.

My eyes are rather bad ; it is a prevailing complaint, and
scarcely worth mentioning.

Adieu, dear. I am very anxious to see you again.

I am going to sleep to-night at Vienna. NAPOLEON.

No. 17.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MUNICH.

Brunn, December 10, 1805.

It is a long time since I had news of you. Have the grand
fetes at Baden, Stuttgard, and Munich made you forget the poor
soldiers, who live covered with mud, rain, and blood ?

I shall start in a few days for Vienna.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 73

We are endeavouring to conclude peace. The Russians have
gone, and are in flight far from here ; they are on their way back
to Russia, well drubbed and very much humiliated.

I am very anxious to be with you again.

Adieu, dear.

My bad eyes are cured. NAPOLEON.

December \$th. Treaty with Prussia.

No. 1 8.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MUNICH.

December 19, 1805.

Great Empress, Not a single letter from you since your
departure from Strasburg. You have gone to Baden, Stuttgard,
Munich, without writing us a word. This is neither very kind
nor very affectionate.

I am still at Brunn. The Russians are gone. I have a
truce. In a few days I shall see what I may expect. Deign
from the height of your grandeur to concern yourself a little with
your slaves. NAPOLEON.

No. 19.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MUNICH.

Sch'dnbrunri) December 20, 1805.

I got your letter of the i6th. I am sorry to learn you are in
pain. You are not strong enough to travel two hundred and
fifty miles at this time of the year. I know not what I shall do ;
I await events. I 'have no will in the matter ; everything depends
on their issue. Stay at Munich ; amuse yourself. That is not
difficult when you have so many kind friends and so beautiful a

74 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

country. I, for my part, am sufficiently busy. In a few days
my decision will be made.

Adieu, dear. Kindest and most affectionate regards.

NAPOLEON.

December 2 Jth. l Peace of Presburg.

December $lst. Napoleon arrives outside Munich, and joins Josephine
the next morning.

1 VI. Ntvose, which for the year 1805 was December 27 (see Harris Nicolas'
" Chronology of History "). Haydn, Woodward, Bouillet, all have December
26th ; Alison and Biographic Universelle have December 27th ; but, as usual, the
" Correspondence of Napoleon I." is taken here as the final court of appeal.

SERIES G

" Battles then lasted a few hours, campaigns a few days."

BIGNON, On Fr'iedland (vol. vi. 292).

75

SERIES G

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 243-164.)

LETTER

PAGE

LETTER

PAGE

No.

i.

Princess of Baden

244

No.

35-

I hope that you are at Paris

254

Hortense

244

T. .

254

The Grand Duke .

244

No.

36.

Paris

254

Florence . . .

244

No.

38.

Arensdorf .

254

No.

2.

Bamberg . . .

244

No.

39-

The Battle of Preussich-

Eugene . . .

244

Eylau . , ,

154

Her husband

245

No.

40.

Corbineau ...

2 S 6

No.

3-

Erfurt

245

Dahlmann .

2 5 6

If she wants to see a battle

2 45

No.

41.

TCoung Tascher . .

2 5 6

No.

4.

I nearly captured him and

No.

42.

Napoleon's Correspon-

the Queen . .

246

dence .

2 S 6

I have bivouacked

246

No.

43-

/ am still at Eylau

257

No.

5-

Fatigues, bivouacs . . .

This country is covered

have made me fat

246

with dead and ivounded

257

The great M. Napoleon

247

No.

50.

Osterode

257

No.

7-

Potsdam . . .

2 47

It is not as good as the

No.

8.

You do nothing but cry .

247

great city . .

2 S 8

No.

9

.Madame Tallien . .

247

I have ordered -what you

No.

10.

The bad things I say

wish for Malmaison .

2 5 8

about -women

248

No.

54-

Minerva . . .

259

No.

n.

Lubeck

2 5

No.

55-

The first use of Vous .

2 59

No.

13-

Afadame L. . .

250

No.

56.

Dupuis . .

260

No.

17-

December Ind . ,

2 5

No.

58.

M.deT..

260

No.

18.

Jealousy . . .

250

No.

60.

Marshal Bessieres

260

No.

19.

Desir defemme est unfeu

No.

63-

Date.

260

qul devore .

251

No.

67.

Siveet, pouting, and cap-

No.

23.

I am dependent on events

2 5 I

ricious . . .

260

No.

26.

The fair ones of Great

No.

68.

Madame . .

26l

Poland ,

251

Measles

26l

A -wretched barn .

2 5 2

No.

69.

I trust I may hear you

Such things become com-

have been rational .

26l

mon property

2 5 2

No.

7 1 -

May ^oth .

262

No.

2 7-

JVarsa-w. January \rd .

j j

2 5 2

No.

74-

I am vexed tuith Hortense

262

No.

28.

Be cheerful gal . .

253

No.

78.

Friedland . .

263

No.

29.

Roads unsafe and detest-

No.

79-

Tilsit

264

able

2 S3

76

LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE DURING THE
CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA,
1806-7.

1806.

January 1st. The Elector of Bavaria and the Duke of Wurtemberg
created Kings by France.

January l^rd. Death of William Pitt, aged 47.

February I $th. Joseph Bonaparte enters Naples, and on

March lOth is declared King of the Two Sicilies.

April 1st. Prussia seizes Hanover.

June $th. Louis Bonaparte made King of Holland.

July 6th. Battle of Maida (Calabria. English defeat General Reynier.
French loss 4000 ; English 500).

July 12th. Napoleon forms Confederation of the Rhine, 'with himself at
Chief and Protector.

July l8th. Gaeta surrenders to Massena.

August 6th. Francis //., Emperor of Germany, becomes Emperor of
Austria as Francis 7.

August 1 $th. Russia refuses to ratify peace preliminaries signed by her
ambassador at Paris on July 2$th.

September ityh. Death of Charles James Fox, aged 57.

No. i.

October $th. Proclamation by the Prince of the Peace against France
(germ of Spanish War).

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

October 5, 1806.

It will be quite in order for the Princess of Baden to come to
Mayence. I cannot think why you weep ; you do wrong to

77

78 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

make yourself ill. Hortense is inclined to pedantry ; she loves
to air her views. She has written me ; I am sending her a reply.
She ought to be happy and cheerful. Pluck and a merry heart
that's the recipe.

Adieu, dear. The Grand Duke has spoken to me about
you ; he saw you at Florence at the time of the retreat.

NAPOLEON.

No. 2.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Bamberg, October 7, 1806.

I start this evening, my dear, for Cronach. The whole of
my army is advancing. All goes well. My health is perfect.
I have only received as yet one letter from you. I have some
from Eugene and from Hortense. Stephanie should now be
with you. Her husband wishes to make the campaign ; he
is with me.

Adieu. A thousand kisses and the best of health.

NAPOLEON.

October Sth. Prussia, assisted by Saxony, Russia, and England, de-
clares war against France.

October gth. Campaign opens. Prussians defeated at Schleitz.

October \Oth. Lannes defeats them at Saalfeld. Prince Louis of
Prussia killed ; IOOO men and 30 guns taken.

October nth. French peace negotiations with England broken off".

No. 3.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Gera, October 13, 1806, 2 A.M.

My Dear, I am at Gera to-day. My affairs go excellently
well, and everything as I could wish. With the aid of God, they
will, I believe, in a few days have taken a terrible course for the
poor King of Prussia, whom I am sorry for personally, because he

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 79

is a good man. The Queen is at Erfurt with the King. If she
wants to see a battle, she shall have that cruel pleasure. I am in
splendid health. I have already put on flesh since my departure ;
yet I am doing, in person, twenty and twenty-five leagues a day,
on horseback, in my carriage, in all sorts of ways. I lie down at
eight, and get up at midnight. I fancy at times that you have
not yet gone to bed. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

October l ^th. Battles of Jena and Auerstadt.

No. 4.

October i$th. Napoleon at Weimar. He releases 6000 Saxon prisoners ,
which soon causes peace tuith Saxony.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Jena, October 15, 1806, 3 A.M.

My Dear, I have made excellent manoeuvres against the
Prussians. Yesterday I won a great victory. They had 150,000
men. I have made 20,000 prisoners, taken 100 pieces of cannon,
and flags. I was in presence of the King of Prussia, and near to
him ; I nearly captured him and the Queen. For the past two
days I have bivouacked. I am in excellent health.

Adieu, dear. Keep well, and love me.

If Hortense is at Mayence, give her a kiss ; also to Napoleon
and to the little one. NAPOLEON.

No. 5.

October i6th. Soult routs Kalkreuth at Greussen ; Erfurt and 16,000
men capitulate to Murat.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Weimar, October 1 6, 1806, 5 P.M.

M. Talleyrand will have shown you the bulletin, my dear ;
you will see my successes therein. All has happened as I cal-

8o NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

culated, and never was an army more thoroughly beaten and
more entirely destroyed. I need only add that I am very well,
and that fatigue, bivouacs, and night-watches have made me fat.
Adieu, dear. Kindest regards to Hortense and to the great
M. Napoleon. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

October 17 th. Bernadotte defeats Prussian reserve at Halle.
October 1 8//>. Davoust takes Leipsic, and an enormous stock of English
merchandise,

October igth. Napoleon at Halle.

October 2Oth. Lannes takes Dessau, and Davoust Wittenberg.

October 2 1st. Napoleon at Dessau.

No. 6.

October l^rd. Napoleon males Wittenberg central depot for his army.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Wittenberg, October 23, 1 806, Noon.

I have received several of your letters. I write you only a
line. My affairs prosper. To-morrow I shall be at Potsdam,
and at Berlin on the 25th. I am wonderfully well, and thrive
on hard work. I am very glad to hear you are with Hortense and
Stephanie, en grande compagnie. So far, the weather has been fine.

Kind regards to Stephanie, and to everybody, not forgetting
M. Napoleon.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 7.

October 2^th. Lannes occupies Potsdam.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Potsdam, October 24, 1806.

My Dear, I have been at Potsdam since yesterday, and shall
remain there to-day. I continue satisfied with my undertakings.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 81

My health is good ; the weather very fine. I find Sans-Souci
very pleasant.

Adieu, dear. Best wishes to Hortense and to M. Napoleon.

NAPOLEON.

October 2$th. Marshal Davoust enters Berlin ; Bernadotte occupies
Brandenburg.

October 28th. Prince Hohenlohe surrenders at Prenzlau to Murat with
1 6,OOO men, including the Prussian Guard.

October $Oth. Stettin surrenders with 5000 men and 150 cannon.

No. 8.

November 1st. Anklam surrenders, with 4000 men, to General Becker.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

November I, 1806, 2 A.M.

Talleyrand has just arrived and tells me, my dear, that you do
nothing but cry. What on earth do you want r You have your
daughter, your grandchildren, and good news ; surely these are
sufficient reasons for being happy and contented.

The weather here is superb ; there has not yet fallen during
the whole campaign a single drop of water. I am very well, and
all goes excellently.

Adieu, dear ; I have received a letter from M. Napoleon ;
I do not believe it is from him, but from Hortense. Kindest
regards to everybody. NAPOLEON.

November 2nd. Kustrin surrenders, with 4000 men and 90 guns, to
Davoust.

No. 9.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Berlin, November 2, 1806.

Your letter of October 26th to hand. We have splendid
weather here. You will see by the bulletin that we have taken

82 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

Stettin it is a very strong place. All my affairs go as well as
possible, and I am thoroughly satisfied. One pleasure is alone
wanting that of seeing you, but I hope that will not long be
deferred.

Kindest regards to Hortense, Stephanie, and to the little
Napoleon.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. QA.

From the Memoirs of Mademoiselle d'Avrillon (vol. i. 128).
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Berlin, Monday^ Noon.

My Dear y I have received your letter. I am glad to know
that you are in a place which pleases me, and especially to know
that you are very well there. Who should be happier than you ? -
You should live without a worry, and pass your time as pleasantly
as possible ; that, indeed, is my intention.

I forbid you to see Madame Tallien, under any pretext
whatever. I will admit of no excuse. If you desire a con-
tinuance of my esteem, if you wish to please me, never transgress
the present order. She may possibly come to your apartments,
to enter them by night ; forbid your porter to admit her.

I shall soon be at Malmaison. I warn you to have no lovers
there that night ; I should be sorry to disturb them. Adieu,
dear ; I long to see you and assure you of my love and affection.

NAPOLEON.
No. 10.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

November 6, 1806, 9 P.M.

Yours to hand, in which you seem annoyed at the bad things
I say about women ; it is true that I hate intriguing women

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 83

more than anything. I am used to kind, gentle, persuasive
women ; these are the kind I like. If I have been spoilt, it is
not my fault, but yours. Moreover, you shall learn how kind I
have been to one who showed herself sensible and good, Madame
d'Hatzfeld. When I showed her husband's letter to her she
admitted to me, amid her sobs, with profound emotion, and
frankly, " Ah ! it is indeed his writing ! " While she was
reading, her voice went to my heart ; it pained me. I said,
" Well, madame, throw that letter on the fire, I shall then
have no longer the power to punish your husband." She burnt
the letter, and seemed very happy. Her husband now feels at
ease ; two hours later he would have been a dead man. You see
then how I like kind, frank, gentle women ; but it is because such
alone resemble you.

Adieu, dear ; my health is good. NAPOLEON.

November 6th and 'jth. Slacker and his army ( i 7,000 men) surrender
at Lubeck to Soult, Murat, and Bernadotte.

November 8th. Magdeburg surrenders to Ney, with 2O,OOO men,
immense stores, and nearly 800 cannon.

_No. ii.

November gth. Napoleon levies a contribution of 150 million francs on
Prussia and her allies.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Berlin, November 9, 1806.

My Dear, I am sending good news. Magdeburg has capitu-
lated, and on November yth I took 20,000 men at Lubeck who
escaped me last week. The whole Prussian army, therefore, is
captured ; even beyond the Vistula there does not remain to

84 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

Prussia 20,000 men. Several of my army corps are in Poland.
I am still at Berlin. I am very fairly well.

Adieu, dear ; heartiest good wishes to Hortense, Stephanie,
and the two little Napoleons. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

November !O//>. Davoust occupies Posen. Hanover occupied by Mar-
shal Morfier.

No. 12.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Berlin^ November 1 6, 1806.

I received your letter of November nth. I note with satis-
faction that my convictions give you pleasure. You are wrong
to think flattery was intended ; I was telling you of yourself as I
see you. I am grieved to think that you are tired of Mayence.
Were the journey less long, you might come here, for there is no
longer an enemy, or, if there is, he is beyond the Vistula ; that is
to say, more than three hundred miles away. I will wait to hear
what you think about it. I should also be delighted to see M.
Napoleon.

Adieu, my dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

I have still too much business here for me to return to Paris.

November Ijth. Suspension of arms signed at Charlottenburg.
November iqth. French occupy Hamburg.
November 2Oth. French occupy Hameln.

November 2 1st. French occupy Bremen. Berlin decree. Napoleon
interdicts trade with England.

No. 13.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

November 22, 1806, IO P.M.

Your letter received. I am sorry to find you in the dumps ;
yet you have every reason to be cheerful. You are wrong to

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 85

show so much kindness to people who show themselves unworthy

of it. Madame L is a fool ; such an idiot that you ought to

know her by this time, and pay no heed to her. Be contented,
happy in my friendship, and in the great influence you possess.
In a few days I shall decide whether to summon you hither or
send you to Paris.

Adieu, dear ; you can go at once, if you like, to Darmstadt,
or to Frankfort ; that will make you forget your troubles.

Kindest regards to Hortense. NAPOLEON.

November 2$tk. Napoleon leaves Berlin.

No. 14.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Kustrtri) November 26, 1806.

I am at Kustrin, making a tour and spying out the land a
little ; I shall see in a day or two whether you should come.
You can keep ready. I shall be very pleased if the Queen of
Holland be of the party. The Grand Duchess of Baden must
write to her husband about it.

It is 2 A.M. I am just getting up ; it is the usage of war.
Kindest regards to you and to every one.

NAPOLEON.

No. 15.

November 2Jth. Napoleon arrives at Posen.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Meseritz, November 27, 1806, 2 A.M.

I am about to make a tour in Poland. This is the first town
there. To-night I shall be at Posen, after which I shall send for
you to come to Berlin, so that you can arrive there the same day

86 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

as I. My health is good, the weather rather bad ; it has rained
for the past three days. My affairs prosper. The Russians are
in flight.

Adieu, dear ; kindest regards to Hortense, Stephanie, and the
little Napoleons. NAPOLEON.

November ^%th. Murat enters Warsaw. French occupy Duchies of
Mecklenburg.

No. 1 6.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Posen y November 29, 1806, Noon.

I am at Posen, capital of Great Poland. The cold weather
has set in ; I am in good health. I am about to take a circuit
round Poland. My troops are at the gates of Warsaw.

Adieu, dear ; very kindest regards, and a hearty embrace.

No. 17.
December 2nd. Glogau surrenders to Vandamme.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Poseri, December 2, 1806.

To-day is the anniversary of Austerlitz. I have been to a
city ball. It is raining ; I am in good health. I love you and
long for you. My troops are at Warsaw. So far the cold has
not been severe. All these fair Poles are Frenchwomen at
heart ; but there is only one woman for me. Would you know
her ? I could draw her portrait very well ; but I should have to
flatter it too much for you to recognise yourself; yet, to tell
the truth, my heart would only have nice things to say to you.
These nights are long, all alone. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON,

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 87

No. 1 8.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

December 3, 1806, Noon.

Yours of November 26th received. I notice two things in
it. You say I do not read your letters : it is an unkind thought.
I take your bad opinion anything but kindly. You tell me that
perhaps it is a mere phantasy of the night, and you add that you
are not jealous. I found out long ago that angry persons always
assert that they are not angry ; that those who are afraid keep on
repeating that they have no fear ; you therefore are convinced of
jealousy. I am delighted to hear it ! Nevertheless, you are
wrong ; I think of nothing less, and in the desert plains of
Poland one thinks little about beauties. . . .

I had yesterday a ball of the provincial nobility the women
good-looking enough, rich enough, dowdy enough, although in
Paris fashions.

Adieu, dear ; I am in good health. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

No. 19.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Posen, December 3, 1806, 6 P.M.

Yours of November 2yth received, from which I see that
your little head is quite turned. I am reminded of the verse

" Desir de femme est un feu qui devore."

Still you must calm yourself. I wrote you that I was in
Poland ; that, when we were established in winter quarters, you
could come ; you will have to wait a few days. The greater
one becomes, the less one can consult one's wishes being
dependent on events and circumstances. You can come to

88 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

Frankfort or Darmstadt. I am hoping to send for you in a few
days ; that is, if circumstances will permit. The warmth of
your letter makes me realise that you, like other pretty women,
know no bounds. What you will, must be ; but, as for me,
I declare that of all men I am the greatest slave ; my master has
no pity, and this master is the nature of things.

Adieu, dear ; keep well. The person that I wished to speak

to you about is Madame L , of whom every one is speaking

ill ; they assure me that she is more Prussian than French
woman. I don't believe it, but I think her an idiot who talks
nothing but trash. NAPOLEON.

December 6th. Thorn (on the Vistula) occupied by Ney.

No. 20.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Posen, December 9, 1806.

Yours of December ist received. I see with pleasure that
you are more cheerful ; that the Queen of Holland wishes to
come with you. I long to give the order ; but you must still
wait a few days. My affairs prosper.

Adieu, dear ; I love you and wish to see you happy.

NAPOLEON.

No. 21.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Posen, December IO, 1806, 5 P.M.

An officer has just brought me a rug, a gift from you ; it is
somewhat short and narrow, but I thank you for it none the less.
I am in fair health. The weather is very changeable. My
affairs prosper pretty well. I love you and long for you much.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 89

Adieu, dear ; I shall write for you to come with at least as
much pleasure as you will have in coming. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.
A kiss to Hortense, Stephanie, and Napoleon.

December llth. Davoust forces the passage of the Bug.

No. 22.

December 12th. Treaty of peace and alliance between France and
Saxony signed at Posen.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Posen, December I2th, 1806, 7 P.M.

My Dear, I have not received any letters from you, but
know, nevertheless, that you are well. My health is good, the
weather very mild ; the bad season has not begun yet, but the
roads are bad in a country where there are no highways. Hor-
tense will come then with Napoleon ; I am delighted to hear it.
I long to see things shape themselves into a position to enable
you to come.

I have made peace with Saxony. The Elector is King and
one of the confederation.

Adieu, my well-beloved Josephine. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

A kiss to Hortense, Napoleon, and Stephanie.

Paer, the famous musician, his wife, a virtuoso whom you
saw at Milan twelve years ago, and Brizzi are here ; they give
me a little music every evening.

No. 23.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

December 15, 1806, 3 P.M.

My Dear, I start for Warsaw. In a fortnight I shall be
back ; I hope then to be able to send for you. But if that seems

9 o NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

a long time, I should be very glad if you would return to Paris,
where you are wanted. You well know that I am dependent on
events. All my affairs go excellently. My health is very good ;
I am as well as possible.

Adieu, dear. I have made peace with Saxony. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

December ijfh. Turkey declares war on Russia. ( So M ontgaillard ;
but Napoleon refers to it in the thirty-ninth bulletin, dated December ^th,
while Haydn dates it January Jtk. )

No. 24.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Warsaw, December 20, 1806, 3 P.M.

I have no news from you, dear. I am very well. The last
two days I have been at Warsaw. My affairs prosper. The
weather is very mild, and even somewhat humid. It has as yet
barely begun to freeze ; it is October weather.

Adieu, dear ; I should much have liked to see you, but trust
that in five or six days I shall be able to send for you.

Kindest regards to the Queen of Holland and to her little
Napoleons. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

December 22nd. Napoleon crosses the Nareiu, and the next day defeats
Russians at Czarnoivo ; also

December 2^th. At Nasielsk.

December 26th. Ney defeats Lestocq at Soldau ; Lannes defeats Ben-
ings en at Pultusk ;

December 28th. And Augereau defeats Buxhoiuden at Golymin.

No. 25.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Golymin^ December 29, 1806, 5 A.M.

I write you only a line, my dear. I am in a wretched barn.
I have beaten the Russians, taken thirty pieces of cannon, their

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 91

baggage, and 6000 prisoners ; but the weather is frightful. It is
raining ; we have mud up to our knees.

In two days I shall be at Warsaw, whence I shall write you.
Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 26.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Publish, December 31, 1806.

I have had a good laugh over your last letters. You idealise
the fair ones of Great Poland in a way they do not deserve. I
have had for two or three days the pleasure of hearing Paer and
two lady singers, who have given me some very good music. I
received your letter in a wretched barn, having mud, wind, and
straw for my only bed. To-morrow I shall be at Warsaw. I
think all is over for this year. The army is entering winter
quarters. I shrug my shoulders at the stupidity of Madame de

L ; still you should show her your displeasure, and counsel

her not to be so idiotic. Such things become common property,
and make many people indignant.

For my part, I scorn ingratitude as the worst fault in a human
heart. I know that instead of comforting you, these people have
given you pain.

Adieu, dear ; I am in good health. I do not think you ought
to go to Cassel ; that place is not suitable. You may go to
Darmstadt. NAPOLEON.

No. 27.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

ff^anaw, January 3, 1807.

My Dear, I have received your letter. Your grief pains
me ; but one must bow to events. There is too much country
to travel between Mayence and Warsaw ; you must, therefore,

92 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

wait till circumstances allow me to come to Berlin, in order that
I may write you to come thither. It is true that the enemy,
defeated, is far away ; but I have many things here to put to
rights. I should be inclined to think that you might return to
Paris, where you are needed. Send away those ladies who have
their affairs to look after ; you will be better without people who
have given you so much worry.

My health is good ; the weather bad. I love you from my
heart. NAPOLEON.

January $th. Capture of Breslau, with 7000 men, by Vandamme and
Hedou'ville.

No. 28.
January ^th. English Orders in Council against Berlin Decree.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Warsaw, January 7, 1807.

My Dear, I am pained by all that you tell me ; but the
season being cold, the roads very bad and not at all safe, I cannot
consent to expose you to so many fatigues and dangers. Return
to Paris in order to spend the winter there. Go to the Tuileries ;
receive, and lead the same life as you are accustomed to do when
I am there ; that is my wish. Perhaps I shall not be long in
rejoining you there ; but it is absolutely necessary for you to give
up the idea of making a journey of 750 miles at this time of the
year, through the enemy's country, and in the rear of the army.
Believe that it costs me more than you to put off for some weeks
the pleasure of seeing you, but so events and the success of my
enterprise order it.

Adieu, my dear ; be cheerful, and show character.

NAPOLEON,

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 93

No. 29.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Warsaw, January 8, 1807.

My Dear, I received your letter of the 27th with those of
M. Napoleon and Hortense, which were enclosed with it. I had
begged you to return to Paris. The season is too inclement, the
roads unsafe and detestable ; the distances too great for me to
permit you to come hither, where my affairs detain me. It
would take you at least a month to come. You would arrive
ill ; by that time it might perhaps be necessary to start back
again ; it would therefore be folly. Your residence at Mayence
is too dull ; Paris reclaims you ; go there, it is my wish. I am
more vexed about it than you. I should have liked to spend the
long nights of this season with you, but we must obey circum-
stances.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 30.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Warsaw, January 1 1, 1807.

Your letter of the 27th received, from which I note that
you are somewhat uneasy about military events. Everything is
settled, as I have told you, to my satisfaction ; my affairs prosper.
The distance is too great for me to allow you to come so far at
this time of year. I am in splendid health, sometimes rather
wearied by the length of the nights.

Up to the present I have seen few people here.
Adieu, dear. I wish you to be cheerful, and to give a little
life to the capital. I would much like to be there. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

I hope that the Queen has gone to the Hague with M.
Napoleon.

94 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 31.

January i6tb. Capture of Brleg by the French.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

January 16, 1807.

My Dear, I have received your letter of the 5th of January;
all that you tell me of your unhappiness pains me. Why these
tears, these repinings ? Have you then no longer any fortitude ?
I shall see you soon. Never doubt my feelings ; and if you wish
to be still dearer to me, show character and strength of mind. I
am humiliated to think that my wife can distrust my destinies.

Adieu, dear. I love you, I long to see you, and wish to
learn that you are content and happy. NAPOLEON.

No. 32.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Warsaw, January 18, 1807.

I fear that you are greatly grieved at our separation and at
your return to Paris, which must last for some weeks longer. I
insist on your having more fortitude. I hear you are always
weeping. Fie ! how unbecoming it is ! Your letter of January
7th makes me unhappy. Be worthy of me ; assume more
character. Cut a suitable figure at Paris ; and, above all, be
contented.

I am very well, and I love you much ; but, if you are always
crying, I shall think you without courage and without character.
I do not love cowards. An empress ought to have fortitude.

NAPOLEON.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 95

No. 33.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Warsaw, January i^, 1807.

My Dear, Your letter to hand. I have laughed at your fear
of fire. I am in despair at the tone of your letters and at what I
hear. I forbid you to weep, to be petulant and uneasy ; I want
you to be cheerful, lovable, and happy. NAPOLEON.

No. 34.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

Warsaw, January 23, 1807.

Your letter of January I5th to hand. It is impossible to
allow women to make such a journey as this bad roads, miry
and unsafe. Return to Paris ; be cheerful and content there.
Perhaps even I shall soon be there. I have laughed at what
you say about your having taken a husband to be with him. I
thought, in my ignorance, that the wife was made for the hus-
band, the husband for his country, his family, and glory. Pardon
my ignorance ; one is always learning from our fair ladies.

Adieu, my dear. Think how much it costs me not to send
for you. Say to yourself, " It is a proof how precious I am to
him." NAPOLEON.

No. 35.

January 2$th. Russians defeated at Mobrungen by Bernadotte.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MAYENCE.

January 25, 1807.

I am very unhappy to see you are in pain. I hope that you
are at Paris ; you will get better there. I share your griefs, and
do not groan. For I could not risk losing you by exposing you
to fatigues and dangers which befit neither your rank nor
your sex.

96 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

I wish you never to receive T at Paris ; he is a black

sheep. You would grieve me by doing otherwise.
Adieu, my dear. Love me, and be courageous.

NAPOLEON.

No. 36.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Warsaw, January 26, 1807, Noon.

My Dear, I have received your letter. It pains me to see
how you are fretting yourself. The bridge of Mayence neither
increases nor decreases the distance which separates us. Remain,
therefore, at Paris. I should be vexed and uneasy to know that
you were so miserable and so isolated at Mayence. You must
know that I ought, that I can, consider only the success of my
enterprise. If I could consult my heart I should be with you, or
you with me ; for you would be most unjust if you doubted my
love and entire affection. NAPOLEON.

No. 37.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Willemberg) February I, 1807, Noon.

Your letter of the nth, from Mayence, has made me laugh.
To-day, I am a hundred miles from Warsaw j the weather is
cold, but fine.

Adieu, dear ; be happy, show character.

NAPOLEON.

No. 38.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

My Dear y Your letter of January 2Oth has given me pain ;
it is too sad. That's the fault of not being a little more devout !

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 97

You tell me that your glory consists in your happiness. That is
narrow-minded ; one should say, my glory consists in the happi-
ness of others. It is not conjugal ; one should say, my glory
consists in the happiness of my husband. It is not maternal ;
one should say, my glory consists in the happiness of my children.
Now, since nations your husband, your children can only be
happy with a certain amount of glory, you must not make little
of it. Fie, Josephine ! your heart is excellent and your argu-
ments weak. You feel acutely, but you don't argue as well.

That's sufficient quarrelling. I want you to be cheerful,
happy in your lot, and that you should obey, not with grumbling
and tears, but with gaiety of heart and a little more good temper.

Adieu, dear ; I start to-night to examine my outposts.

NAPOLEON.

February $th. Combats of Bergfriede, Wallers dorf, and Deppen ;
Russians forced back.

February 6th. Combat of H of. Murat victorious.
February 8 th. Battle of Eylau ; retreat of Russians.

No. 39.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Ey/au, February 9, 1807, 3 A.M.

My Dear, Yesterday there was a great battle ; the victory
has remained with me, but I have lost many men. The loss of
the enemy, which is still more considerable, does not console me.
To conclude, I write you these two lines myself, although I am
very tired, to tell you that I am well and that I love you.
Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 40.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Eylau, February 9, 1807, 6 P.M.

My Dear, I write you a line in order that you may not be
uneasy. The enemy has lost the battle, 40 pieces of cannon,

G

98 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

10 flags, 12,000 prisoners ; he has suffered frightfully. I have lost
many : 1600 killed, 3000 or 4000 wounded.

Your cousin Tascher conducts himself well ; I have sum-
moned him near me with the title of orderly officer.

Corbineau has been killed by a shell ; I was singularly attached
to that officer, who had much merit ; I am very unhappy
about him. My mounted guard has covered itself with glory.
Dahlman is dangerously wounded.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 41.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Eylau, February II, 1807, 3 A.M.

My Dear, I write you a line ; you must have been very
anxious. I have beaten the enemy in a fight to be remembered,
but it has cost many brave lives. The bad weather that has set
in forces me to take cantonments.

Do not afflict yourself, please ; all this will soon be over, and
the happiness of seeing you will make me promptly forget my
fatigues. Besides, I have never been in better health.

Young Tascher, of the 4th Regiment, has behaved well ; he
has had a rough time of it. I have summoned him near me ; I
have made him an orderly officer there's an end to his troubles.
This young man interests me.

Adieu, dear ; a thousand kisses. NAPOLEON.

No. 42.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Preussich-Ey/aUy February 12, 1807.

I send you a letter from General Darmagnac. He is a very
good soldier, who commanded the 32nd. He is much attached

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 99

to me. If this Madame de Richmond be well off, and it is a
good match, I shall see this marriage with pleasure. Make this
known to both of them. NAPOLEON.

No. 43.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Ey/au y February 14, 1807.

My Dear, I am still at Eylau. This country is covered
with dead and wounded. It is not the bright side of warfare ;
one suffers, and the mind is oppressed at the sight of so many
victims. My health is good. I have done as I wished, and
driven back the enemy, while making his projects fail.

You are sure to be uneasy, and that thought troubles me.
Nevertheless, calm yourself, my dear, and be cheerful. Yours
ever, NAPOLEON.

Tell Caroline and Pauline that the Grand Duke and the
Prince l are in excellent health.

February \6th. Savory defeats Russians at Ostrolenka.

No. 44.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Eylau, February 17, 1807, 3 A.M.

Your letter to hand, informing me of your arrival at Paris.
I am very glad to know you are there. My health is good.

The battle of Eylau was very sanguinary, and very hardly
contested. Corbineau was slain. He was a very brave man. I
had grown very fond of him.

Adieu, dear ; it is as warm here as in the month of April ;
everything is thawing. My health is good. NAPOLEON.

1 Murat and Borghese.

ioo NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 45.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Landsberg y February 18, 1807, 3 A.M.

I write you two lines. My health is good. I am moving to
set my army in winter quarters.

It rains and thaws as in the month of April. We have not
yet had one cold day.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 46.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Liebstadt, February 2O, 1807, 2 A.M.

I write you two lines, dear, in order that you may not be
uneasy. My health is very good, and my affairs prosper.

I have again put my army into cantonments.

The weather is extraordinary ; it freezes and thaws ; it is
wet and unsettled.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 47.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Liebstadt, February 21, 1807, 2 A.M.

Your letter of the 4th February to hand ; I see with pleasure
that your health is good. Paris will thoroughly re-establish it by
giving you cheerfulness and rest, and a return to your accus-
tomed habits.

I am wonderfully well. The weather and the country are
vile. My affairs are fairly satisfactory. It thaws and freezes
within twenty-four hours ; there can never have been known
such an extraordinary winter.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 101

Adieu, dear ; I love you, I think of you, and wish to know
that you are contented, cheerful, and happy. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

No. 48.

To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Liebstadt, February 21, 1807, Noon.

My Dear, Your letter of the 8th received ; I see with
pleasure that you have been to the opera, and that you propose
holding receptions weekly. Go occasionally to the theatre, and
always into the Royal box. I notice also with pleasure the
banquets you are giving.

I am very well. The weather is still unsettled ; it freezes
and thaws.

I have once more put my army into cantonments in order to
rest them.

Never be doleful, love me, and believe in my entire affection.

NAPOLEON.

No. 49.

To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osterode, February 23, 1807, 2 P.M.

My Dear, Your letter of the loth received. I am sorry to
see you are a little out of sorts.

I have been in the country for the past month, experiencing
frightful weather, because it has been unsettled, and varying from
cold to warm within a week. Still, I am very well.

Try and pass your time pleasantly ; have no anxieties, and
never doubt the love I bear you. NAPOLEON.

February 26th. Dupont defeats Russians at Braunsberg.

102 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 50.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osterode, March 2, 1807.

My Dear^ It is two or three days since I wrote to you ; I
reproach myself for it ; I know your uneasiness. I am very well ;
my affairs prosper. I am in a wretched village, where I shall
pass a considerable time ; it is not as good as the great city ! I
again assure you, I was never in such good health ; you will find
me very much stouter.

It is spring weather here ; the snow has gone, the streams
are thawing which is what I want.

I have ordered what you wish for Malmaison ; be cheerful
and happy ; it is my will.

Adieu, dear ; I embrace you heartily. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

March gtb. The Grand Sanhedrim, which assembled at Paris on
February 9, terminates its sittings.

No. 51.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osttrode, March IO, 1807, 4 P.M.

My Dear, I have received your letter of the 25th. I see
with pleasure that you are well, and that you sometimes make a
pilgrimage to Malmaison.

My health is good, and my affairs prosper.

The weather has become rather cold again. I see that the
winter has been very variable everywhere.

Adieu, dear; keep well, be cheerful, and never doubt my
affection, Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 103

No. 52.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osterode, March u, 1807.

My Dear, I received your letter of the 27th. I am sorry to
see from it that you are ill ; take courage. My health is good ;
my affairs prosper. I am waiting for fine weather, which should
soon be here. I love you and want to know that you are con-
tent and cheerful.

A great deal of nonsense will be talked of the battle of Eylau ;
the bulletin tells everything ; our losses are rather exaggerated in
it than minimised. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 53.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osterode, March 13, 1807, 2 P.M.

My Dear, I learn that the vexatious tittle-tattle that occurred
in your salon at Mayence has begun again ; make people hold
their tongues. I shall be seriously annoyed with you if you do
not find a remedy. You allow yourself to be worried by the
chatter of people who ought to console you. I desire you to
have a little character, and to know how to put everybody into
his (or her) proper place.

I am in excellent health. My affairs here are good. We
are resting a little, and organising our food supply.

Adieu, dear ; keep well. NAPOLEON.

No. 54.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osterode, March 15, 1807.

I received your letter of the ist of March, from which I see
that you were much upset by the catastrophe of Minerva at the

io 4 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

opera. I am very glad to see that you go out and seek distrac-
tions.

My health is very good. My affairs go excellently. Take
no heed of all the unfavourable rumours that may be circulated.
Never doubt my affection, and be without the least uneasiness.
Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 55.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osterode, March 17, 1807.

My Dear, It is not necessary for you to go to the small
plays and into a private box ; it ill befits your rank ; you should
only go to the four great theatres, and always into the Royal box.
Live as you would do if I were at Paris.

My health is very good. The cold weather has recommenced.
The thermometer has been down to 8. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

No. 56.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osterode, March 17, 1807, 10 P.M.

I have received yours of March 5th, from which I see with
pleasure that you are well. My health is perfect. Yet the
weather of the past two days has been cold again ; the ther-
mometer to-night has been at 10, but the sun has given us a
very fine day.

Adieu, dear. Very kindest regards to everybody.

Tell me something about the death of that poor Dupuis ;
have his brother told that I wish to help him.

My affairs here go excellently. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 105

No. 57.

March 2$th. Abolition of slave trade in Great Britain by Parliament.

To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

March 25, 1807.

I have received your letter of March I3th. If you really
wish to please me, you must live exactly as you live when I am
at Paris. Then you were not in the habit of visiting the second-
rate theatres or other places. You ought always to go into the
Royal box. As for your home life : hold receptions there, and
have your fixed circles of friends ; that, my dear, is the only way
to deserve my approbation. Greatness has its inconveniences ;
an Empress cannot go where a private individual may.

Very best love. My health is good. My affairs prosper.

NAPOLEON.

No. 58.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osterode, March 27, 1807, 7 P.M.

My Dear, Your letter pains me. There is no question of
your dying. You are in good health, and you can have no just
ground for grief.

I think you should go during May to St. Cloud ; but you
must spend the whole month of April at Paris.

My health is good. My affairs prosper.

You must not think of travelling this summer ; nothing of
that sort is feasible. You ought not to frequent inns and camps.
I long as much as you for our meeting and for a quiet life.

I can do other things besides fight ; but duty stands first and
foremost. All my life long I have sacrificed everything to my
destiny peace of mind, personal advantage, happiness.

Adieu, dear. See as little as possible of that Madame de

106 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

P . She is a woman who belongs to the lowest grade of

society ; she is thoroughly common and vulgar.

NAPOLEON.

I have had occasion to find fault with M. de T . I have

sent him to his country house in Burgundy. I wish no longer
to hear his name mentioned.

No. 59.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Osterode, April I, 1807.

My Dear, I have just got your letter of the 2Oth. I am
sorry to see you are ill. I wrote you to stay at Paris the whole
month of April, and to go to St. Cloud on May ist. You
may go and spend the Sundays, and a day or two, at Malmaison.
At St. Cloud you may have your usual visitors.

My health is good. It is still quite cold enough here. All
is quiet.

I have named the little princess Josephine. 1 Eugene should
be well pleased. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 60.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Finckenstein, April 2, 1807.

My Dear y I write you a line. I have just moved my head-
quarters into a very fine chateau, after the style of Bessieres',
where I have several fireplaces, which is a great comfort to me ;
getting up often in the night, I like to see the fire.

My health is perfect. The weather is fine, but still cold.
The thermometer is at four to five degrees.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

1 Eugene's eldest daughter, the Princess Josephine Maximilienne Auguste,
born March 14, 1807 ; married Bernadotte's son, Prince Oscar, June 18, 1827.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 107

No. 61.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Finckenstein, April 6, 1807, 3 P.M.

My Dear^ I have received your letter, from which I see you
have spent Holy Week at Malmaison, and that your health is
better. I long to hear that you are thoroughly well.

I am in a fine chateau, where there are fireplaces, which I
find a great comfort. It is still very cold here ; everything is
frozen.

You will have seen that I have good news from Constantinople.

My health is good. There is nothing fresh here. Yours
ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 62.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Finckemtein y April IO, 1807, 6 P.M.

My Dear, My health is excellent. Here spring is begin-
ning ; but as yet there is no vegetation. I wish you to be
cheerful and contented, and never to doubt my attachment.
Here all goes well. NAPOLEON.

No. 63.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Finckenstein, April 14, 1807, 7 P.M.

I have received your letter of April 3rd. I see from it that
you are well, and that it has been very cold in Paris. The
weather here is very unsettled ; still I think the spring has come
at length ; already the ice has almost gone. I am in splendid
health.

Adieu, dear. I ordered some time ago for Malmaison all that
you ask for, Yours ever, NAPOLEON,

io8 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 64.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Finckenstein, April 1 8, 1807.

I have received your letter of April 5th. I am sorry to see
from it that you are grieved at what I have told you. As usual,
your little Creole head becomes flurried and excited in a moment.
Let us not, therefore, speak of it again. I am very well, but yet
the weather is rainy. Savary is very ill of a bilious fever, before
Dantzic ; I hope it will be nothing serious.
Adieu, dear ; my very best wishes to you.

NAPOLEON.

No. 65.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Finckenstein, April 24, 1807, 7 P.M.

I have received your letter of the I2th. I see from it that
your health is good, and that you are very happy at the thought
of going to Malmaison.

The weather has changed to fine ; I hope it may continue so.

There is nothing fresh here. I am very well.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 66.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Finckenstein, May 2, 1807, 4 P.M.

My Dear y I have just received your letter of the 23rd ; I
see with pleasure that you are well, and that you are as fond as
ever of Malmaison. I hear the Arch-Chancellor is in love. Is
this a joke, or a fact ? It has amused me ; you might have
given me a hint about it !

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 109

I am very well, and the fine season commences. Spring
shows itself at length, and the leaves begin to shoot.
Adieu, dear ; very best wishes. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

No. 67.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Finckenstein, May 10, 1807.

I have just received your letter. I know not what you tell
me about ladies in correspondence with me. I love only my
little Josephine, sweet, pouting, and capricious, who can quarrel
with grace, as she does everything else, for she is always
lovable, except when she is jealous ; then she becomes a regular
shrew. 1 But let us come back to these ladies. If I had leisure
for any among them, I assure you that I should like them to be
pretty rosebuds.

Are those of whom you speak of this kind ?

I wish you to have only those persons to dinner who have
dined with me ; that your list be the same for your assemblies ;
that you never make intimates at Malmaison of ambassadors and
foreigners. If you should do the contrary, you would displease
me. Finally, do not allow yourself to be duped too much by
persons whom I do not know, and who would not come to the
house, if I were there.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 68.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Finckenstein, May 12, 1807.

I have just received your letter of May 2nd, in which I see
that you are getting ready to go to St. Cloud. I was sorry to

see the bad conduct of Madame . Might you not speak to

1 Toute diablesse.

no NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

her about mending her ways, which at present might easily
cause unpleasantness on the part of her husband ?

From what I hear, Napoleon is cured ; I can well imagine
how unhappy his mother has been ; but measles is an ailment to
which every one is liable. I hope that he has been vaccinated,
and that he will at least be safe from the smallpox.

Adieu, dear. The weather is very warm, and vegetation has
begun ; but it will be some days before there is any grass.

NAPOLEON.

No. 69.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Finckenstein, May 14, 1807.

I realise the grief which the death of this poor Napoleon l
must cause you ; you can imagine what I am enduring.
I should like to be by your side, in order that your sorrow
might be kept within reasonable bounds. You have had
the good fortune never to lose children ; but it is one of the
pains and conditions attached to our miseries here below. I
trust I may hear you have been rational in your sorrow, and
that your health remains good ! Would you willingly augment
my grief?

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 70.

To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Finckenstein, May 1 6, 1807.

I have just received your letter of May 6th. I see from it
how ill you are already ; and I fear that you are not rational,
and that you are making yourself too wretched about the mis-
fortune which has come upon us.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

1 Charles Napoleon, Prince Royal of Holland, died at the Hague, May 5, 1807.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS in

No. 71.
To THE EMPRESS, AT LACKEN.

Finckenstein, May 2O, 1807.

I have just received your letter of May loth. I see that you
have gone to Lacken. I think you might stay there a fortnight ;
it would please the Belgians and serve to distract you.

I am sorry to see that you have not been rational. Grief has
bounds which should not be passed. Take care of yourself for
the sake of your friend, and believe in my entire affection.

NAPOLEON.

No. 72.

May 2^.tk. Dantzic surrenders to Lefebvre after two months' siege,
with 800 guns and immense stores.

To THE EMPRESS, AT LACKEN.

Finckemtein, May 24, 1807.

Your letter from Lacken just received. I am sorry to see
your grief undiminished, and that Hortense has not yet come ;
she is unreasonable, and does not deserve our love, since she only
loves her children.

Try to calm her, and do not make me wretched. For every
ill without a remedy consolations must be found.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 73.
To THE EMPRESS, AT LACKEN.

Finckenstein, May 26, 1807.

I have just received your letter of the i6th. I have seen
with pleasure that Hortense has arrived at Lacken. I am an-
noyed at what you tell me of the state of stupor in which she
still is. She must have more courage, and force herself to have it.

ii2 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

I cannot imagine why they want her to go to take the waters ;
she will forget her trouble much better at Paris, and find more
sources of consolation.

Show force of character, be cheerful, and keep well. My
health is excellent.

Adieu, dear. I suffer much from all your griefs ; it is a great
trouble to me not to be by your side. NAPOLEON.

May 2%tb. Lefebvre made Duke of Dantzic by Napoleon.

May 2()th. Selim III. deposed in Turkey by Mustapha IV., his
nephew.

June 1st. 22,OOO Spanish troops, sent by Charles IV. , join the French
army in Germany.

No. 74.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Dantzig, June 2, 1807.

My Dear y I note your arrival at Malmaison. I have no
letters from you ; I am vexed with Hortense, she has never
written me a line. All that you tell me about her grieves me.
Why have you not found her some distractions ? Weeping
won't do it ! I trust you will take care of yourself in order that
I may not find you utterly woebegone.

I have been the two past days at Dantzic ; the weather is
very fine, my health excellent. I think more of you than you
are thinking of a husband far away.

Adieu, dear ; very kindest regards. Pass on this letter to
Hortense. NAPOLEON.

No. 75.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Marienburg) June 3, 1807.

This morning I slept at Marienburg. Yesterday I left
Dantzic ; my health is very good. Every letter that comes from

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 113

St. Cloud tells me you are always weeping. That is not well ;
it is necessary for you to keep well and be cheerful.

Hortense is still unwell ; what you tell me of her makes me
very sorry for her.

Adieu, dear ; think of all the affection I bear for you.

NAPOLEON.

June $th. Russians defeated at Spanden ; Bernadottc wounded.

No. 76.

June 6th. Russians defeated at Deppen by Soult.

To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Finckenstein, June 6, 1807.

My Dear, I am in flourishing health. Your yesterday's
letter pained me ; it seems to me that you are always grieving,
and that you are not reasonable. The weather is very fine.

Adieu, dear ; I love you and wish to see you cheerful and
contented. NAPOLEON.

June Qth. Russians defeated at Guttstadt by Napoleon, and

June \oth. At Heilsberg.

June i^th. Battle of Fried/and, completing the " Campaign of Ten Days.'*

No. 77.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Fried/and, June 15, 1807.

My Dear, I write you only a line, for I am very tired, by
reason of several days' bivouacking. My children have worthily
celebrated the anniversary of the battle of Marengo.

The battle of Friedland will be as celebrated for my people,
and equally glorious. The entire Russian army routed, 80 pieces
of cannon captured, 30,000 men taken or slain, 25 Russian
generals killed, wounded, or taken, the Russian Guard wiped out.

H

n 4 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

The battle is worthy of her sisters Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena.
The bulletin will tell you the rest. My loss is not consider-
able. I out-manoeuvred the enemy successfully.

Be content and without uneasiness.

Adieu, dear ; my horse is waiting. NAPOLEON.

You may give this news as official, if it arrives before the
bulletin. They may also fire salvoes. Cambaceres will make
the proclamation.

No. 78.

June i6tt>. Konigsberg captured by Soult " what tuas left to the
King of Prussia is conquered."

To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Friedland) June 1 6, 1807, 4 P * M -

My Dear, Yesterday I despatched Moustache with the news
of the battle of Friedland. Since then I have continued to
pursue the enemy. Konigsberg, which is a town of 80,000
souls, is in my power. I have found there many cannon, large
stores, and, lastly, more than 160,000 muskets, which have come
from England.

Adieu, dear. My health is perfect, although I have a slight
catarrh caused by bivouacking in the rain and cold. Be happy
and cheerful. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

June 17 th. Neisse, in Silesia, with 6000 men, surrenders to the
French ; also

June iSth. Glatz.

No. 79.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Tilsit, June 19, 1807.

This morning I despatched Tascher to you, to calm all your
fears. Here all goes splendidly. The battle of Friedland has

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 115

decided everything. The enemy is confounded, overwhelmed,
and greatly weakened.

My health is good, and my army is superb.

Adieu, dear. Be cheerful and contented. NAPOLEON.

June 2 1 st. Armistice concluded at Tilsit.

No. 80.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Tilsit, June 22, 1807.

My Dear, I have your letter of June loth. I am sorry to
see you are so depressed. You will see by the bulletin that I
have concluded a suspension of arms, and that we are negotiating
peace. Be contented and cheerful.

I despatched Borghese to you, and, twelve hours later, Mous-
tache ; therefore you should have received in good time my
letters and the news of the grand battle of Friedland.

I am wonderfully well, and wish to hear that you are
happy. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 81.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Tilsit, June 25, 1807.

My Dear, I have just seen the Emperor Alexander. I was
much pleased with him. He is a very handsome, young, and
kind-hearted Emperor ; he has more intelligence than people
usually give him credit for. To-morrow he will lodge in the
town of Tilsit.

Adieu, dear. I am very anxious to hear that you are well
and happy. My health is very good. NAPOLEON.

n6 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 82.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Tilsit, July 3, 1807.

My Dear^ M. de Turenne will give you full details of all
that has occurred here. Everything goes excellently. I think I
told you that the Emperor of Russia drinks your health with
much cordiality. He, as well as the King of Prussia, dines with
me every day. I sincerely trust that you are happy.
Adieu, dear. A thousand loving remembrances.

NAPOLEON.

No. 83.

To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Tilsit y July 6, 1807.

I have your letter of June 25th. I was grieved to see that
you were selfish, and that the success of my arms should have no
charm for you.

The beautiful Queen of Prussia is to come to-morrow to
dine with me.

I am well, and am longing to see you again, when destiny
shall so order it. Still, it may be sooner than we expect.

Adieu, dear ; a thousand loving remembrances.

NAPOLEON.

No. 84.

July yfh. Peace signed between France and Russia.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Tilsit y July 7, 1807.

My Dear, Yesterday the Queen of Prussia dined with me.
I had to be on the defence against some further concessions she

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 117

wished me to make to her husband ; but I was very polite, and
yet held firmly to my policy. She is very charming. I shall
soon give you the details, which I could not possibly give you
now unless at great length. When you read this letter, peace
with Prussia and Russia will be concluded, and Jerome acknow-
ledged King of Westphalia, with a population of three millions.
This news is for yourself alone.

Adieu, dear ; I love you, and wish to know that you are
cheerful and contented. NAPOLEON.

No. 85.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Tilsit, July 8, 1 1807.

The Queen of Prussia is really charming ; she is full of
coquetterle for me ; but don't be jealous ; I am an oil-cloth over
which all that can only glide. It would cost me too much to
play the lover. NAPOLEON.

No. 12,875 of the Correspondence (taken from Las Cases).

July tyh. Peace signed between France and Prussia, the latter resign-
ing all its possessions between the Rhine and the Elbe.

No. 86.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Dresden, July 18, 1807, Noon.

My Dear, Yesterday I arrived at Dresden at 5 P.M., in
excellent health, although I remained a hundred hours in the
carriage without getting out. I am staying here with the King
of Saxony, with whom I am highly pleased. I have now there-
fore traversed more than half the distance that separates us.

1 Presumed date.

n8 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

It is very likely that one of these fine nights I may descend
upon St. Cloud like a jealous husband, so beware.

Adieu, dear ; I shall have great pleasure in seeing you.
Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

July 2$th. Plot of Prince Ferdinand of Asturias against his parents,
the King and Queen of Spain.

July 2Jth. Napoleon arrives at St. Cloud, 5 A.M.

August iqth. Napoleon suppresses the French Tribunate.

August 2Oth. Marshal Brune captures Stralsund from the Swedes.

September 1st. The Ionian Isles become part of the French Empire.

September $th to 1th. Bombardment of Copenhagen by the English.

September fth. Occupation of Rugen by Marshal Brune.

October 6th. War between Russia and Sweden.

October 1 6th. Treaty of alliance between France and Denmark.

October l"]th. Junot with 27,000 men starts for Portugal, with whom
France has been nominally at war since 1801.

October 27 th. Treaty of Fontainebleau signed between France and
Spain. ( Plot of Prince Ferdinand against his father discovered at Madrid
the same day. )

November 8th. Russia declares war against England.

November I $th. Napoleon constitutes the kingdom of Westphalia, with
his brother Jerome as king.

November 26th. Junot enters Abrantes, and on

November $Oth, enters Lisbon.

December )th. Trade suspended between England and the United
States (re rights of neutrals).

December 2$rd. France levies a contribution of IOO million francs on
Portugal.

SERIES H

" Napoleon was received with unbounded adulation by all
the towns of Italy. . . . He was the Redeemer of France,
but the Creator of Italy." ALISON, Hist, of Europe (vol. xi.
280).

119

SERIES H

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 264-267.)

LETTER PAGE

No. I. Milan ........ 264

Mont Cents ....... 264

Eugene . . . . . . . 264

No. 2. Venice ........ 265

November $oth ...... 265

No. 3. Udine ........ 265-7

/ may soon be in Paris . . . . . 267

<7^

LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE DURING THE
JOURNEY HE MADE IN ITALY, 1807.

November i6th. Napoleon leaves Fontainebleau.
November ^^nd-^s > th. At Milan.

No. i.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Mi/an, November 25, 1807.

My Dear, I have been here two days. I am very glad that
I did not bring you here ; you would have suffered dreadfully in
crossing Mont Cenis, where a storm detained me twenty-four
hours.

I found Eugene in good health ; I am very pleased with him.
The Princess is ill ; I went to see her at Monza. She has had a
miscarriage ; she is getting better.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

November 2gtb to December Jth. At Venice (writes Talleyrand, " This
land is a phenomenon of the power of commerce ").

No. 2.

To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Venice, November 30, 1807.

I have your letter of November 22nd. The last two days I
have been at Venice. The weather is very bad, which has not

122 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

prevented me from sailing over the lagoons in order to see the
different forts.

I am glad to see you are enjoying yourself at Paris.

The King of Bavaria, with his family, as well as the Princess
Eliza, are here.

I am spending December 2nd l here, and that past I shall be
on my way home, and very glad to see you.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 3.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Udine, December 1 1, 1807.

My Dear, I have your letter of December 3rd, from which
I note that you were much pleased with the Jardin des Plantes.
Here I am at the extreme limit of my journey ; it is possible I
may soon be in Paris, where I shall be very glad to see you
again. The weather has not as yet been cold here, but very
rainy. I have profited by this good season up to the last moment,
for I suppose that at Christmas the winter will at length make
itself felt.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

December 1 2th. At Udine.

December l^th. At Mantua.

December \6th. At Milan (till December 26th}.

December I Jtb. His Milan decree against English commerce.

December 2'jth-28tk. At Turin.

1808.
January 1st. At Paris.

1 His Coronation Day.

SERIES I

" The imbecility of Charles IV., the vileness of Ferdinand,
and the corruption of Godoy were undoubtedly the proximate
causes of the calamities which overwhelmed Spain." NAPIER'S
Peninsular War (vol. i. preface).

SERIES I

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 267-269.)

LETTER PACK

No. I. Bayonnc ........ 267

No. 2. A country-house . ...... 267

Everything is still most primitive . . . .267

No. 3. Prince of the Asturias . . . . . .268

The Queen 268

No. 4. A son has been born ...... 268

Arrive on the 27 'th . . . . . . 269

124

LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE DURING THE
STAY THAT HE MADE AT BAYONNE,

1808.

" This year offers a strange picture. The Emperor Napoleon was
at Venice in the month of January, surrounded by the homage of all the
courts and princes of Italy ; in the month of April he was at Bayonne,
surrounded by that of Spain, and the great personages of that country ;
and, finally, in the month of October he is at Erfurth, with his parterre
of kings." Memoires du Due de Rovigo.

January 2'Jth. Queen and Prince Regent of Portugal reach Rio
de Janeiro.

February 2nd. French troops enter Rome.

February I'jth. French occupy Pampcluna, and

February 2tyh. Barcelona.

March ityh. Charles IV. abdicates, and his son proclaimed Ferdi-
nand VII.

March 2Oth. Godoy imprisoned by Ferdinand.

March 2^rd. Murat enters Madrid.

March 2'Jth. Napoleon excommunicated.

April i J//6. Napoleon arrives at Bayonne.

No. i.
To THE EMPRESS, AT BORDEAUX.

Bayonne^ April 1 6, 1808.

I have arrived here in good health, rather tired by a dull
journey and a very bad road.

125

126 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

I am very glad you stayed behind, for the houses here are
wretched and very small.

I go to-day into a small house in the country, about a mile
from the town.

Adieu, dear. Take care of yourself.

No. 2.
To THE EMPRESS, AT BORDEAUX.

Bayonne, April 17, 1808.

I have just received yours of April I5th. What you tell me
of the owner of the country-house pleases me. Go and spend
the day there sometimes.

I am sending an order for you to have 2O,OOO francs per
month additional while I am away, counting from the ist of
April.

I am lodged atrociously. I am leaving this place in an hour,
to occupy a country-house (bastide) about a mile away. The
Infant Don Carlos and five or six Spanish grandees are here, the
Prince of the Asturias fifty miles away. King Charles and the
Queen are due. I know not how I shall lodge all these people.
Everything here is still most primitive (a I'auberge). The health
of my troops in Spain is good.

It took me some time to understand your little jokes ; I have
laughed at your recollections. O you women, what memories
you have !

My health is fairly good, and I love you most affectionately.
I wish you to give my kind regards to everybody at Bordeaux ; I
have been too busy to send them to anybody. NAPOLEON.

April 2Olh. Ferdinand arrives at Bayonne.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 127

No. 3.
To THE EMPRESS, AT BORDEAUX.

April 21, 1808.

I have just received your letter of April igth. Yesterday I
had the Prince of the Asturias and his suite to dinner, which
occasioned me considerable embarrassment. I am waiting for
Charles IV. and the Queen.

My health is good. I am now sufficiently recovered for the
campaign.

Adieu, dear. Your letters always give me much pleasure.

NAPOLEON.

No. 4.
To THE EMPRESS, AT BORDEAUX.

Bayonne^ April 23, 1808.

My Dear, A son has been born to Hortense ; l I am highly
delighted. I am not surprised that you tell me nothing of it,
since your letter is dated the 2ist, and the child was only born
on the 20th, 2 during the night.

You can start on the 26th, sleep at Mont de Marsan, and
arrive here on the 2yth. Have your best dinner-service sent on
here on the 25th, in the evening. I have made arrangements
for you to have a little house in the country, next to the one I
have. My health is good.

I am waiting for Charles IV. and his wife.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

April $Oth. Charles IV. and the Queen arrive at Bayonne.
May 1st. Ferdinand gives back the crown to his father.
May+2nd. Murat subdues insurrection at Madrid.
May $th. Treaty of Bayonne ; Charles IV. and Ferdinand (May 6)
surrender to Napoleon their rights to the Spanish crown.

1 Charles Louis Napoleon, afterwards Napoleon III. 2 At 17 Rue Lafitte.

128 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

May iyh. Spanish Junta ask for Joseph Bonaparte to be their king.
June 6th. King Joseph proclaimed King of Spain and the Indies by
Napoleon, in an imperial decree, dated Bayonne.

June 'jth. French, under Dupont, sacked Cordova.

June Qth. Emperor of Austria calls out his militia.

June i$th. French fleet at Cadiz surrender to the Spanish.

July 4//. English cease hostilities with Spain, and recognise Fer-
dinand VII.

July 'Jth. Spanish new constitution sworn to by Joseph and by the
Junta.

July (jth. Commences the siege of Saragassa.

July \^th. Bessieres defeats 40,000 Spaniards at Medina de Rio
Seco.

July l$th. Murat declared King of Naples.

July 2Otk. Joseph enters Madrid. Mahmoud deposed by his
younger brother at Constantinople.

July 22nd. Dupont capitulates at Baylen " the only stain on French
arms for twenty years (17921812)." Montgaillard.

July $Oth. French protest against Austrian armaments.

August 1st. Wellington landed in Portugal.

August 2 1 st. Battle of Vimiera, creditable to Junot.

August 2$th. Spanish troops reoccupy Madrid.

August $Oth. Convention of Cintra. French only hold Barcelona,
Biscay, Navarre, and Alava, In the 'whole of Spain.

September ftth. Convention of Paris (Prussia and France) ; Prussian
army not to exceed 40,000 men.

SERIES J

" When he shows as seeking quarter, with paws like hands in prayer,
That is the time of peril the time of the truce of the Bear ! "

KIPLING.

129

SERIES J

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 269-273.)

PAGE

No. I. I have rather a cold ...... 270

I am pleased with the Emperor . . . .270

No. 2. Shooting over the battlefield of Jena . . . .271

The Weimar ball . . . . . . .271

A few trifling ailments . . . . . .271

No. 3 I am pleased with Alexander . . . . .272
He ought to be with me . . . , . . 272
Erfurt ........ 273

LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE DURING HIS
STAY AT ERFURT, 1808.

No. i.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

Erfurt, September 29, 1 808.

I have rather a cold. I have received your letter, dated
Malmaison. I am well pleased with the Emperor and every
one here.

It is an hour after midnight, and I am tired.
Adieu, dear ; take care of yourself.

NAPOLEON.

No. 2.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

October 9, 1808.

My Dear, I have received your letter. I note with pleasure
that you are well. I have just been shooting over the battle-
field of Jena. We had breakfast (dejeune) at the spot where I
bivouacked on the night of the battle.

I assisted at the Weimar ball. The Emperor Alexander
dances ; but not I. Forty years are forty years.

My health is really sound, in spite of a few trifling ailments.

Adieu, dear ; I hope to see you soon. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

132 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 3.
To THE EMPRESS, AT ST. CLOUD.

My ZWr, I write you seldom ; I am very busy. Conver-
sations which last whole days, and which do not improve my cold.
Still all goes well. I am pleased with Alexander ; he ought to
be with me. If he were a woman, I think I should make him
my sweetheart.

I shall be back to you shortly ; keep well and let me find
you plump and rosy.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

SERIES K

" The winter campaign commenced on the I st of November
1808, and terminated on the ist of March 1809, to the advantage
of the French, who, for that reason, denominate it the Imperial
Campaign. The Spaniards were long before they could recover
from the terror caused by the defeat of their armies, the capture of
Madrid, the surrender of Saragossa, and the departure of the English
from Corunna." Sarrazins History of the War in Spain and
Portugal, 1815.

133

SERIES K

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 273-278.)

LETTER PAGE

No. 5. Aranda ....... 273

No. 6. Madrid ....... 273

Parisian tveather . . . . . . 273

No. 8. Kourak'm ....... 274

No. 9. The English appear to have received reinforce-
ments ....... 274

No. IO. Bena-vmte ....... 274

The English flee panic-stricken . . . . 274

The 'weather . . . . . . . 274

Lefebvre . . . . . . . 275

No. II. Tour letters ....... 275-6

No. 12. The English are in utter rout . . . . 276

Nos. 13 & 14. Valladolid ...... 277

Eugene has a daughter . . . . . 277

They are foolish in Paris . . . . . 277

134

LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE DURING THE
SPANISH CAMPAIGN, 1808 AND 1809.

October 2gth. English enter Spain.

October 3 ist. Blake defeated by Lefebvre at Tornosa.

No. i.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

November 3, 1808.

I arrived to-night 1 with considerable trouble. I had ridden
several stages at full speed. Still, I am well.
To-morrow I start for Spain.
My troops are arriving in force.
Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

November ^th. Napoleon enters Spain. .

No. 2.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Tolosa, November 5, 1808.

I am at Tolosa. I am starting for Vittoria, where I shall be
in a few hours. I am fairly well, and I hope everything will
soon be completed. NAPOLEON.

1 At Bayonne.
135

136 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 3.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Vittoria, November J.

My Dear y I have been the last two days at Vittoria. I am
in good health. My troops are arriving daily ; the Guard arrived
to-day.

The King is in very good health. I am very busy.
I know that you are in Paris. Never doubt my affection.

NAPOLEON.

November loth. Battle of Burgos. Sou/t and Bessieres defeat
Spaniards, nuho lose 3000 killed and 3000 prisoners, and 2O cannon.

November i2tb. Battle of Espinosa. Marshal Victor defeats La
Romano and Blake, luho lose 2O,ooo men and 50 cannon.

No. 4.

November i^th. Third revolution at Constantinople. Mahmoud IV.
assassinated (November I5/^).

To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Burgos^ November 14, 1808.

Matters here are progressing at a great rate. The weather is
very fine. We are successful. My health is very good.

NAPOLEON.

November 2$rd. Battle of Tudela. Castanos and Palafox defeated,
with loss of 7000 men and 30 cannon, by Marshal Lannes. " The battle
of Tudela makes the pendant of that of Espinosa." Napoleon.

No. 5.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

November 26, 1808.

I have received your letter. I trust that your health be as
good as mine is, although I am very busy. All goes well here.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 137

I think you should return to the Tuileries on December 2ist,
and from that date give a concert daily for eight days. Yours
ever, NAPOLEON.

Kind regards to Hortense and to M. Napoleon.

December $rd. French voluntarily evacuate Berlin.

December qth. Surrender of Madrid. Napoleon abolishes the Inquisi-
tion and feudal rights. {"He regards the taking of a capital as decisive for
the submission of a 'whole kingdom ; thus in 1814 'will act his adversaries,
pale but judicious imitators of his strategy." Montgaillard.)

No. 6.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

December 7, 1808.

Your letter of the 28th to hand. I am glad to see that you
are well. You will have seen that young Tascher has dis-
tinguished himself, which has pleased me. My health is good.

Here we are enjoying Parisian weather of the last fortnight
in May. We are hot, and have no fires ; but the nights are
rather cool.

Madrid is quiet. All my affairs prosper.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

Kind regards to Hortense and to M. Napoleon.

No. 7.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Chamartiri) December IO, 1808.

My Dear, Yours to hand, in which you tell me what bad
weather you are having in Paris ; here it is the best weather
imaginable. Please tell me what mean these alterations Hortense
is making ; I hear she is sending away her servants. Is it be-
cause they have refused to do what was required ? Give me
some particulars. Reforms are not desirable.

138 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

Adieu, dear. The weather here is delightful. All goes
excellently, and I pray you to keep well. NAPOLEON.

No. 8.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

December 21, 1808.

You ought to have been at the Tuileries on the I2th. I
trust you may have been pleased with your rooms.

I have authorised the presentation of Kourakin to you and
the family ; be kind to him, and let him take part in your plays.

Adieu, dear. I am well. The weather is rainy ; it is rather
cold. NAPOLEON.

No. 9.
December 22nd. Napoleon quits Madrid.

To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Madrid, December 22, 1808.

I start at once to outmanoeuvre the English, who appear to
have received reinforcements and wish to look big.

The weather is fine, my health perfect ; don't be uneasy.

NAPOLEON.

No. 10.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Benavento, December 31, 1808.

My Dear, The last few days I have been in pursuit of the
English, but they flee panic-stricken. They have pusillanimously
abandoned the remnant of La Romana's army in order not to
delay its retreat a single half day. More than a hundred waggons
of their baggage have already been taken. The weather is
very bad.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 139

Lefebvre l has been captured. He took part in a skirmish with
300 of his chasseurs ; these idiots crossed a river by swimming and
threw themselves in the midst of the English cavalry ; they killed
several, but on their return Lefebvre had his horse wounded ; it
was swimming, the current took him to the bank where the
English were ; he was taken. Console his wife.

Adieu, dear. Bessieres, with 10,000 cavalry, is at Astorga.

NAPOLEON.

A happy New Year to everybody.

No. ii.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

January 3, 1809.

My Dear, I have received your letters of the i8th and 2ist.
I am close behind the English.

The weather is cold and rigorous, but all goes well.
Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

A happy New Year, and a very happy one, to my Josephine.

No. 12.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Benavento, January 5, 1809.

My Dear^ I write you a line. The English are in utter
rout ; I have instructed the Duke of Dalmatia to pursue them
closely (I'tyee dans les reins). I am well ; the weather bad.
Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 13.

To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

January 8, 1809.

I have received yours of the 23rd and 26th. I am sorry to
see you have toothache. I have been here two days. The

1 General Lefebvre Desnouettes.

1 40 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

weather is what we must expect at this season. The English are
embarking. I am in good health.

Adieu, dear.

I am writing Hortense. Eugene has a daughter.

Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 14.

To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

January 9, 1809.

Moustache brings me your letter of 3ist December. I see
from it, dear, that you are sad and have very gloomy disquietudes.
Austria will not make war on me ; if she does, I have 150,000
men in Germany and as many on the Rhine, and 400,000
Germans to reply to her. Russia will not separate herself from
me. They are foolish in Paris ; all goes well.

I shall be at Paris the moment I think it worth while. I
advise you to beware of ghosts ; one fine day, at two o'clock in
the morning.

But adieu, dear ; I am well, and am yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

SERIES L

" Berthier, incapable of acting a principal part, was surprised,
and making a succession of false movements that would have
been fatal to the French army, if the Emperor, journeying
night and day, had not arrived at the very hour when his lieu-
tenant was on the point of consummating the ruin of the army.
But then was seen the supernatural force of Napoleon's genius.
In a few hours he changed the aspect of affairs, and in a few
days, maugre their immense number, his enemies, baffled and
flying in all directions, proclaimed his mastery in an art which,
up to that moment, was imperfect ; for never, since troops first
trod a field of battle, was such a display of military genius made
by man." NAPIER.

SERIES L

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 278-295.)

LETTER PAGE

Napoleon's position in Europe . . . . 278

No. I. Donauwerth 281

The Ratisbon proclamation, and first successes of

the campaign up to April 23rd . . . 281-2

No. 2. May 6th 282

The ball that touched me . . . . . 283
No. 3. Baron Marbot's foray ; and memories of Richard

Coeur de Lion ..... 284
No. 4. Schoenbrunn . . . . . . .2845

May 12th 285

No. 5. Ebersdorf .... 286

Eugene . . . has completely performed the task . 287

No. 6. May 2<)th 288

No. 7. 1 have ordered the t<wo prince s .... 2889

The Duke of Montebello 289

Thus everything ends . . . . . 289

No. 9. Eugene won a battle . . . . . 290

No. ii. Wagram ....... 290

Lasalle . . . . . . . 291

I am sunburnt . . . . . . 291

No. 12. A surfeit of bile . . . . . . 291

Wolkersdorf . . . . . . . 291

No. 1 6. My affairs follow my wishes . . . . 292

No. 17. August 2lst ....... 292

No. 1 8. Comedians ....... 292

Women ... no/ having been presented . . 293

No. 19. All this is very suspicious . . . . . 293

No. 20. Krems 293

My health has never been better . . . . 293

No. 23. October l^th ....... 294

No. 24. Stuttgard 295

142

LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE DURING THE
AUSTRIAN CAMPAIGN, 1809.

EVENTS OF 1809.

January Jth. Ring and Queen of Prussia visit Alexander at St.
Petersburg.

January I2th. Cayenne and French Guiana captured by Spanish
and Portuguese South Americans.

January i ^th. Combat of Alcazar. Victor defeats Spaniards.

January i qjh. Treaty of Alliance between England and Spain.

January i6th. Battle of Corunna. Moore killed ; Baird wounded.

January I'jth. English army sails for England.

January 22nd. King Joseph returns to Madrid.

January 2Jtb. Soult takes Ferrol (retaken by English, June 22nd).

February 2 1st. Lannes takes Saragossa.

February 2$rd. English capture Martinique.

March 4//>. Madison made President of United States.

March 2()th. Soult fights battle of Oporto. Spaniards lose 2O,OOO
men and 200 guns. Gustavus Adolphus abdicates throne of Sweden.

April gth. Austrians under Archduke Charles cross the Inn, enter
Bavaria, and take Munich. Napoleon receives this news April i2th, and
reaches Strasburg April l$th.

April i $th. Eugene defeated on the Tagliamento.

April i6th. And at Sacile.

April i()th, Combat of Pfafferhofen. Oudinot repulses Austrians,
while Davoust wins the Battle of Thann. Napoleon joins the army.

April 2Oth. Battle of Abensberg. Archduke Louis defeated.
Austrians take Ratisbon, and 1800 prisoners. Poles defeated by Arch-
duke Ferdinand at Baszy.

April 2ist. Combat of Landshut ; heavy Austrian losses. Austrians
under Archduke Ferdinand take Warsaw.

143

i 4 4 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

April 22nd. Battle of Eckmiihl. Napoleon defeats Archduke Charles.

April 2$rd. French take Ratisbon.

April 2$th. King of Bavaria re-enters Munich.

April 26th. French army crosses the Inn.

April 2%th-T ) oth. French force the Salza, and cut in two the main
Austrian army " One of the most beautiful manoeuvres of modern
tactics" (Monlgaillard}.

April zyth. Combat of Caldiero. Eugene defeats Archduke John.

May $rd. Russia declares war on Austria, and enters Galicia.

May ajh. Combat of Ebersberg. Massena defeats Austrians, but
loses a large number of men.

No. i.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Donauwoerth, April 17, 1809.

I arrived here yesterday at 4 A.M. ; I am just leaving it.
Everything is under way. Military operations are in full activity.
Up to the present, there is nothing new.

My health is good. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 2.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Enns, May 6, 1809, Noon.

My Dear, I have received your letter. The ball that
touched me has not wounded me ; it barely grazed the tendon
Achilles.

My health is very good. You are wrong to be uneasy.
My affairs here go excellently. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.
Kind regards to Hortense and the Duke de Berg. 1

May 8/^. Eugene crosses the Piave, and defeats Archduke John.

1 Napoleon Louis, Prince Royal of Holland, and Grand Duke of Berg from
March 3, 1809.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 145

No. 3.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Saint-Polten, May 9, 1809.

My Dear, I write you from Saint-Polten. To-morrow I
shall be before Vienna ; it will be exactly a month to the day
after the Austrians crossed the Inn, and violated peace.

My health is good, the weather splendid, and the soldiery very
cheerful ; there is wine here.

Keep well. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

May I3//6. French occupy Vienna, after a bombardment of thirty-
six hours.

May I'jth. Roman States united to the French Empire.

May i8th. French occupy Trieste.

May iqth. Lefebvre occupies Innsbruck.

May 2Oth. Eugene reaches Klagenfurt.

May 2ist22nd. Battle of Essling. A drawn battle, unfavourable
to the French, who lose Marshal Lannes, three generals killed, and 500
officers and 18,000 men wounded. The Archduke admits a loss of
4200 killed and 16,000 wounded.

May 22nd. Meerveldt with 4000 men surrenders at Laybach to
Macdonald.

May 2$th. Eugene reaches Leoben in Styria, and captures most of
the corps of Jellachich.

May 26th. Eugene joins the army of Germany, at Bruck in Styria.

No. 4.

May \2th. Soult evacuates Portugal. Wellington crosses the
Douro, and enters Spain.

To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Schoenbrunriy May 12, 1809.

I am despatching the brother of the Duchess of Montebello
to let you know that I am master of Vienna, and that everything
here goes perfectly. My health is very good. NAPOLEON.

K

146 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 5.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Ebendorf, May 27, 1809.

I am despatching a page to tell you that Eugene has rejoined
me with all his army ; that he has completely performed the task
that I entrusted him with ; and has almost entirely destroyed the
enemy ""s army opposed to him.

I send you my proclamation to the army of Italy, which will
make you understand all this.

I am very well. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

P.5. You can have this proclamation printed at Strasburg,
and have it translated into French and German, in order that it
may be scattered broadcast over Germany. Give a copy of the
proclamation to the page who goes on to Paris.

May 28tf>. Hofer defeats Bavarians at Innsbruck.

No. 6.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Ebersdorf, May 29, 1809, 7 P.M.

My Dear, I have been here since yesterday ; I am stopped
by the river. The bridge has been burnt ; I shall cross at mid-
night. Everything here goes as I wish it, viz., very well.

The Austrians have been overwhelmed (frapph de la foudre).

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 7.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Ebendorf, May 31, 1809.

Your letter of the 26th to hand. I have written you that
you can go to Plombieres. I do not care for you to go to Baden ;

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 147

it is not necessary to leave France. I have ordered the two
princes to re-enter France. 1

The loss of the Duke of Montebello, who died this morning,
has grieved me exceedingly. Thus everything ends ! !

Adieu, dear ; if you can help to console the poor Marechale,
do so. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

June 1st. Archduke Ferdinand evacuates Warsaw.

June 6th. Regent of Sweden proclaimed King as Charles XIII.

No. 8.
To THE EMPRESS, AT STRASBURG.

Schoenbrunn, June 9, 1809.

I have received your letter ; I see with pleasure that you are
going to the waters at Plombieres, they will do you good.

Eugene is in Hungary with his army. I am well, the weather
very fine. I note with pleasure that Hortense and the Duke of
Berg are in France.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

June loth. Union of the Papal States to France promulgated in
Rome.

June llth. Napoleon and all his abettors excommunicated.

June i^th. Eugene, aided by Macdonald and Lauriston, defeats
Archduke Ferdinand at Raab.

No. 9.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PLOMBIERES.

Schoenbrunn, June 1 6, 1809.

I despatch a page to tell you that, on the I4th, the anni-
versary of Marengo, Eugene won a battle against the Archduke

1 Her two grandsons, who, with Hortense, their mother, were at Baden.

148 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

John and the Archduke Palatine, at Raab, in Hungary ; that he
has taken 3000 men, many pieces of cannon, 4 flags, and pur-
sued them a long way on the road to Buda-Pesth.

NAPOLEON.

June iSth. Combat of Belchite. Blake defeated by Suchet near
Saragossa.

No. IO.

To THE EMPRESS, AT PLOMBIERES.

Schoenbrunn^ June 19, 1809, Noon.

I have your letter, which tells me of your departure for
Plombieres. I am glad you are making this journey, because I
trust it may do you good.

Eugene is in Hungary, and is well. My health is very good,
and the army in fighting trim.

I am very glad to know that the Grand Duke of Berg is
with you.

Adieu, dear. You know my affection for my Josephine ; it
never varies. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

July Afth-yh. French cross Danube, and win battle of EnzersdorfF.

July $th-6th. Pope Pius VII. carried off from Rome by order of
Murat ; eventually kept at Savona.

July 6th. Battle of Wagram. The most formidable artillery battle
ever fought up to this date (900 guns in action). The Austrians had
120,000 men, with more guns and of larger calibre than those of the
French.

No. II.

July Jib. St. Domingo surrenders to the English.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PLOMBIERES.

Ebersdorf, July 7, 1809, 5 A.M.

I am despatching a page to bring you the good tidings of the
victory of Enzersdorf, which I won on the 5th, and that of
Wagram, which I won on the 6th.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 149

The enemy's army flies in disorder, and all goes according to
my prayers (voeux).

Eugene is well. Prince Aldobrandini is wounded, but
slightly.

Bessieres has been shot through the fleshy part of his thigh ;
the wound is very slight. Lasalle was killed. My losses are
full heavy, but the victory is decisive and complete. We have
taken more than 100 pieces of cannon, 12 flags, many prisoners.

I am sunburnt.

Adieu, dear. I send you a kiss. Kind regards to Hortense.

NAPOLEON.

No. 12.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PLOMBIERES.

Wolkersdorf^ July 9, 1809, 2 A.M.

My Dear, All goes here as I wish. My enemies are de-
feated, beaten, utterly routed. They were in great numbers ; I
have wiped them out. To-day my health is good ; yesterday I
was rather ill with a surfeit of bile, occasioned by so many hard-
ships, but it has done me much good.

Adieu, dear. I am in excellent health. NAPOLEON.

July \2th. Armistice of Znaim. Archduke Charles resigns his
command.

No. 13.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PLOMBIERES.

In the Campy before Znaim, July 13, 1809.
I send you the suspension of arms concluded yesterday with
the Austrian General. Eugene is on the Hungary side, and is well.

150 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

Send a copy of the suspension of arms to Cambaceres, in case he
has not yet received one.

I send you a kiss, and am very well. NAPOLEON.

You may cause this suspension of arms to be printed at Nancy.

July nth. English seize Senegal. Oudinot, Marmont, Macdonald
made Marshals.

No. 14.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PLOMBIERES.

Schoenbrunn, July 17, 1809.

My Dear, I have sent you one of my pages. You will
have learnt the result of the battle of Wagram, and, later, of the
suspension of arms of Znaim.

My health is good. Eugene is well, and I long to know that
you, as well as Hortense, are the same.

Give a kiss for me to Monsieur, the Grand Duke of Berg.

NAPOLEON.
No. 15.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PLOMBIERES.

Schoenbrunn, July 24, 1809.

I have just received yours of July i8th. I note with pleasure
that the waters are doing you good. I see no objection to you
going back to Malmaison after you have finished your treatment.
It is hot enough here in all conscience. My health is ex-
cellent.

Adieu, dear. Eugene is at Vienna, in the best of health.
Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

July 28tb. Battle of Tala-vera. Wellington repulses Victor, who
attacks by King Joseph's order, without waiting for the arrival of Souk
with the main army. Wellington retires on Portugal.

July 29/^-3 1 st Walcheren Expedition; 17,000 English land in
Belgium.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 151

No. 1 6.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PLOMBIERES.

Schoenbrunn, August 7, 1809.

I see from your letter that you are at Plombieres, and intend
to stay there. You do well ; the waters and the fine climate can
only do you good.

I remain here. My health and my affairs follow my wishes.

Please give my kind regards to Hortense and the Napoleons.
Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

August 8th Combat of Arzobispo. Soult defeats the Spaniard*.
August i $th Flushing surrenders to the English.

No. 17.
To THE EMPRESS, AT PARIS.

Schoenbrunn, August 21, 1809.

I have received your letter of August I4th, from Plombieres ;
I see from it that by the i8th you will be either at Paris or Mal-
maison. The heat, which is very great here, will have upset
you. Malmaison must be very dry and parched at this time of
year.

My health is good. The heat, however, has brought on a
slight catarrh.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 1 8.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Schoenbrunn y August 26, 1809.

I have your letter from Malmaison. They bring me word
that you are plump, florid, and in the best of health. I assure

152 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

you Vienna is not an amusing city. I would very much rather
be back again in Paris.

Adieu, dear. Twice a week I listen to the comedians
(bouffbns] ; they are but very middling ; it, however, passes the
evenings. There are fifty or sixty women of Vienna, but out-
siders (au parterre], as not having been presented.

NAPOLEON.

No. 19.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Schoenbrunn, August 31, 1809.

I have had no letter from you for several days ; the pleasures
of Malmaison, the beautiful greenhouses, the beautiful gardens,
cause the absent to be forgotten. It is, they say, the rule of your
sex. Every one speaks only of your good health ; all this is very
suspicious.

To-morrow I am off with Eugene for two days in Hungary.

My health is fairly good.

Adieu, dear. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 20.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

KremSj September 9, 1809.

My Dear, I arrived here yesterday at 2 A.M. ; I have come
here to see my troops. My health has never been better. I
know that you are very well.

I shall be in Paris at a moment when nobody will expect me.
Everything here goes excellently and to my satisfaction.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 153

No. 21.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Schoenbrunri) September 23, 1809.

I have received your letter of the 1 6th, and note that you are
well. The old maid's house is only worth 120,000 * francs ; they
will never get more for it. Still, I leave you mistress to do what
you like, since it amuses you ; only, once purchased, don't pull
it down to put a rockery there.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 22.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Schoenbrunriy September 25, 1809.

I have received your letter. Be careful, and I advise you to be
vigilant, for one of these nights you will hear a loud knocking.

My health is good. I know nothing about the rumours ; I
have never been better for many a long year. Corvisart was no
use to me.

Adieu, dear ; everything here prospers. Yours ever,

NAPOLEON.

September 26th. Battle of Silistria ; Turks defeat Russians.

No. 23.

October i^th. Treaty of Vienna, between France and Austria.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Schoenbrunn, October 14, 1809.

My Dear, I write to advise you that Peace was signed two
hours ago between Champagny and Prince Metternich.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

October igth. Mortier routs Spaniards at Ocjana.

1 Boispreau, belonging to Mademoiselle Julien.

154 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 24.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Nymphenburg, near Munich, October 21, 1809.

I arrived here yesterday in the best of health, but shall not
start till to-morrow. I shall spend a day at Stuttgard. You will
be advised twenty-four hours in advance of my arrival at Fon-
tainebleau.

I look forward with pleasure to seeing you again, and I await
that moment impatiently.

I send you a kiss. Yours ever, NAPOLEON.

No. 25.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Munich, October 22, 1809.

My Dear, I start in an hour. I shall be at Fontainebleau
from the 26th to 2Jth ; you may meet me there with some of
your ladies. NAPOLEON.

November 2$tb. Disappearance of Benjamin Bathurst, erroneously
thought to have been murdered by the French, really by robbers.

December 1st. Capture of Gerona and 200 cannon by Augereau.

December 1 6th. French Senate pronounce the divorce of Napoleon and
Josephine.

December 2$th. English re-embark from Flushing.

SERIES M

" Josenhine, my excellent Josephine, thou knowest if I have
loved thee ! To thee, to thee alone do I owe the only moments
of happiness which I have enjoyed in this world. Josephine,
my destiny overmasters my will. My dearest affections must
be silent before the interests of France." BOURRIENNE'S
Napoleon.^

1 Also MEME'S Memoirs of Josephine, p. 333.

SERIES M

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 295-304.)

LETTER PAGE

No. i. A Family Council . . . . . . 295

No. 2. Savary ........ 297

Queen of Naples ...... 298

The hunt ....... 298

No. 4. The -weather is very damp .... 298

No. 5. King of Bavaria ...... 299

No. 6. Their last dinner together . . . . 299

No. 7. Tuileries ....... 299

No. 8. A house vacant in Paris . . . . . 299

No. 9. Hortense ....... 300

No. 10. A visit to Josephine . . . . . 300

No. II. JVhat charms your society has .... 300

No. 12. King of Westphalia . . . . . 301

No. 13. Sensible 301

No. 14. D'Audenarde ...... 302

No. 1 6. The choosing of a bride ..... 302

No. 17. Date 302

Nos. 1 8 & 19. L'/ysee 302-3

No. 2O. Bessieres' country-house ..... 303

No. 21. Rambouillet ....... 303

Adieu .......; 303

156

LETTERS OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON TO
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE AFTER THE
DIVORCE AND BEFORE HIS MARRIAGE
WITH MARIE LOUISE.

DECEMBER, 1809, TO APRIL 2, 1810.

No. i.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

December 1809, 8 P.M.

My Dear, I found you to-day weaker than you ought to
be. You have shown courage ; it is necessary that you should
maintain it and not give way to a doleful melancholy. You
must be contented and take special care of your health, which is
so precious to me.

If you are attached to me and if you love me, you should
show strength of mind and force yourself to be happy. You
cannot question my constant and tender friendship, and you
would know very imperfectly all the affection I have for you if
you imagined that I can be happy if you are unhappy, and con-
tented if you are ill at ease.

Adieu, dear. Sleep well ; dream that I wish it.

NAPOLEON.
157

158 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 2.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Tuesday, 6 o'clock.

The Queen of Naples, whom I saw at the hunt in the Bois
de Boulogne, where I rode down a stag, told me that she left
you yesterday at I P.M. in the best of health.

Please tell me what you are doing to-day. As for me, I am
very well. Yesterday, when I saw you, I was ill. I expect you
will have been for a drive.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 3.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Trianon, J P.M.

My Dear, I have just received your letter. Savary tells me
that you are always crying ; that is not well. I trust that you
have been a drive to-day. I sent you my quarry. I shall come
to see you when you tell me you are reasonable, and that your
courage has the upper hand.

To-morrow, the whole day, I am receiving Ministers.

Adieu, dear. I also am sad to-day ; I need to know that you
are satisfied and to learn that your equilibrium (aplomb] is restored.
Sleep well. NAPOLEON.

No. 4.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Thursday, Noon, 1809.

My Dear, I wished to come and see you to-day, but I was
very busy and rather unwell. Still, I am just off to the Council.
Please tell me how you are.
This weather is very damp, and not at all healthy.

NAPOLEON.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 159

No. 5.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Trianon.

I should have come to see you to-day if I had not been obliged
to come to see the King of Bavaria, who has just arrived in Paris.
I shall come to see you to-night at eight o'clock, and return
at ten.

I hope to see you to-morrow, and to see you cheerful and
placid.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 6.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Trianon^ Tuesday.

My Dear, I lay down after you left me yesterday ; x I am
going to Paris. I wish to hear that you are cheerful. I shall
come to see you during the week.

I have received your letters, which I am going to read in the
carriage. NAPOLEON.

No. 7.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

PariSy Wednesday, Noon, 2Jth December 1809.

Eugene told me that you were very miserable all yesterday.
That is not well, my dear ; it is contrary to what you pro-
mised me.

I have been thoroughly tired in revisiting the Tuileries ; that
great palace seemed empty to me, and I felt lost in it.

Adieu, dear. Keep well. NAPOLEON.

1 The Empress, with Hortense, had been to dine at Trianon.

160 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 8.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Paris, Sunday, December 31, IO A.M., 1809.

My Dear, To-day I have a grand parade ; I shall see all my
Old Guard and more than sixty artillery trains.

The King of Westphalia is returning home, which will leave
a house vacant in Paris. I am sad not to see you. If the parade
finishes before 3 o'clock, I will come ; otherwise, to-morrow.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 9.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Thursday Evening, 1810.

My Dear, Hortense, whom I saw this afternoon, has given
me news of you. I trust that you will have been able to see
your plants to-day, the weather having been fine. I have only
been out for a few minutes at three o'clock to shoot some hares.

Adieu, dear ; sleep well. NAPOLEON.

No. 10.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Friday, 8 P.M., 1810.

I wished to come and see you to-day, but I cannot ; it will
be, I hope, in the morning. It is a long time since I heard from
you. I learnt with pleasure that you take walks in your garden
these cold days.

Adieu, dear ; keep well, and never doubt my affection.

NAPOLEON.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 161

No. ii.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Sunday , 8 P.M., 1810.

I was very glad to see you yesterday ; I feel what charms
your society has for me.

To-day I walked with Esteve. 1 I have allowed 4000 for
1810, for the extraordinary expenses at Malmaison. You can
therefore do as much planting as you like ; you will distribute
that sum as you may require. I have instructed Esteve to send
8000 the moment the contract for the Maison Julien shall be
made. I have ordered them to pay for your parure of rubies,
which will be valued by the Department, for I do not wish to
be robbed by jewellers. So, there goes the 16,000 that this
may cost me.

I have ordered them to hold the million which the Civil List
owes you for 1810 at the disposal of your man of business, in
order to pay your debts.

You should find in the coffers of Malmaison twenty to
twenty-five thousand pounds ; you can take them to buy your
plate and linen.

I have instructed them to make you a very fine porcelain
service ; they will take your commands in order that it may be a
very fine one. NAPOLEON.

No. 12.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Wednesday, 6 P.M., 1810.

My Dear, I see no objection to your receiving the King of
Westphalia whenever you wish. The King and Queen of
Bavaria will probably come to see you on Friday.

I long to come to Malmaison, but you must really show for-

1 General Treasurer of the Crown.

L

162 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

titude and self-restraint ; the page on duty this morning told me
that he saw you weeping.

I am going to dine quite alone.

Adieu, dear. Never doubt the depth of my feelings for you ;
you would be unjust and unfair if you did.

NAPOLEON.

No. 13.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Saturday, I P.M., 1810.

My Dear, Yesterday I saw Eugene, who told me that you
gave a reception to the kings. I was at the concert till eight
o'clock, and only dined, quite alone, at that hour.

I long to see you. If I do not come to-day, I will come after
mass.

Adieu, dear. I hope to find you sensible and in good health.
This weather should indeed make you put on flesh.

NAPOLEON.

January 9. The clergy of Paris annul the religious marriage of Napoleon
with Josephine (so Biographic Un'rverselle, Michaud ; Montgaillard gives
January 18). Confirmed by the Metropolitan Officialite, January 12
(Pasquier). .

No. 14.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Trianon, January 17, 1810.

My Dear, D'Audenarde, whom I sent to you this morning,
tells me that since you have been at Malmaison you have no
longer any courage. Yet that place is full of our happy memo-
ries, which can and ought never to change, at least on my side.

I want badly to see you, but I must have some assurance that

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 163

you are strong and not weak ; I too am rather like you, and it
makes me frightfully wretched.

Adieu, Josephine ; good-night. If you doubted me, you
would be very ungrateful. NAPOLEON.

No. 15.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

January 2O, 1810.

My Dear, I send you the box that I promised you the day
before yesterday representing the Island of Lobau. I was rather
tired yesterday. I work much, and do not go out.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 1 6.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Noon, Tuesday, 1810.

I hear that you are making yourself miserable ; this is too
bad. You have no confidence in me, and all the rumours that
are being spread strike you ; this is not knowing me, Josephine.
I am much annoyed, and if I do not find you cheerful and con-
tented, I shall scold you right well.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 17.

To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Sunday, 9 P.M., 1810.

My Dear, I was very glad to see you the day before yes-
terday.

I hope to go to Malmaison during the week. I have had all
your affairs looked after here, and ordered that everything be
brought to the Elysee-Napoleon.

Please take care of yourself.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

164 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

No. 1 8.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

January 30, 1810.

My Dear, Your letter to hand. I hope the walk you had
yesterday, in order to show people your conservatories, has done
you good.

I will gladly see you at the Elyse'e, and shall be very glad to
see you oftener, for you know how I love you. NAPOLEON.

No. 19.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Saturday , 6 P.M., 1810.

I told Eugene that you would rather give ear to the vulgar
gossip of a great city than to what I told you ; yet people should
not be allowed to invent fictions to make you miserable.

I have had all your effects moved to the Elysee. You shall
come to Paris at once ; but be at ease and contented, and have
full confidence in me. NAPOLEON.

February 2. Soult occupies Seville. The Junta takes refuge at
Cadiz.

February 6. Guadeloupe surrenders to the English.

February 7. Convention of marriage between the Emperor Napoleon
and the Archduchess Marie Louise.

No. 20.

To THE EMPRESS, AT THE ELYSE"E-NAPOLEON.

February 19, 1810.

My Dear, I have received your letter. I long to see you,
but the reflections that you make may be true. It is, perhaps,

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 165

not desirable that we should be under the same roof for the first
year. Yet Bessieres' country-house is too far off to go and return
in one day ; moreover I have rather a cold, and am not sure of
being able to go there.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 21.
To THE EMPRESS, AT THE ELYSE"E-NAPOLEON.

Friday ', 6 P.M., 1810.

Savary, as soon as he arrived, brought me your letter ; I am
sorry to see you are unhappy. I am very glad that you saw
nothing of the fire.

I had fine weather at Rambouillet.

Hortense told me that you had some idea of coming to a
dinner at Bessieres, and of returning to Paris to sleep. I am
sorry that you have not been able to manage it.

Adieu, dear. Be cheerful, and consider how much you
please me thereby. NAPOLEON.

No. 22.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

March 12, 1810.

My Dear, I trust that you will be pleased with what I have
done for Navarre. You must see from that how anxious I am to
make myself agreeable to you.

Get ready to take possession of Navarre ; you will go there
on March 25, to pass the month of April.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

April i. Civil marriage of Napoleon and Marie Louise. (Religious
marriage, April 2.)

SERIES N

1810

APRIL 2ND DECEMBER 3isr
{after the Marriage with Marie Louise],

Bella gerant alii, tu, felix Austria ! nube."

167

SERIES N

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 304-310.)

LETTER PACK

No. i. Navarre ........ 304

To Malmaison . . . . . . .305

No. I a. It is written in a bad style ..... 305

No. 2. Josephine's wishes ...... 305

No. la. Ttvo letters ....... 306

No. 3. The northern tour of 1 8 10 . .... 306

I 'will come to see you ...... 307

No. 4. July Stt> 308

Tou will have seen Eugene . . . . .308

That unfortunate daughter . . . . .308

No. 5. The conduct of the King of Holland . . .308

No. 6. To die in a lake ....... 309

No. 8. Paris, this Friday . . . . . .309

No. 9. The only suitable places . . . . .310

No. 10. Malmaison . . . . . . .310

The Empress progresses satisfactorily . . .310

168

No. i.

LETTER OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE TO THE EMPEROR
NAPOLEON.

Navarre^ April 19, 1810.

Sire, I have received, by my son, the assurance that your
Majesty consents to my return to Malmaison, and grants to me
the advances asked for in order to make the chateau of Navarre
habitable. This double favour, Sire, dispels to a great extent the
uneasiness, nay, even the fears which your Majesty's long silence
had inspired. I was afraid that I might be entirely banished
from your memory ; I see that I am not. I am therefore less
wretched to-day, and even as happy as henceforward it will be
possible for me to be.

I shall go at the end of the month to Malmaison, since your
Majesty sees no objection to it. But I ought to tell you, Sire,
that I should not so soon have taken advantage of the latitude
which your Majesty left me in this respect had the house of
Navarre not required, for my health's sake and for that of my
household, repairs which are urgent. My idea is to stay at Mal-
maison a very short time ; I shall soon leave it in order to go to
the waters. But while I am at Malmaison, your Majesty may
be sure that I shall live there as if I were a thousand leagues
from Paris. I have made a great sacrifice, Sire, and every day I
realise more its full extent. Yet that sacrifice will be, as it
ought to be, a complete one on my part. Your Highness, amid
your happiness, shall be troubled by no expression of my regret.

I shall pray unceasingly for your Majesty's happiness, perhaps

even I shall pray that I may see you again ; but your Majesty

169

i yo NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

may be assured that I shall always respect our new relationship.
I shall respect it in silence, relying on the attachment that you
had to me formerly ; I shall call for no new proof ; I shall trust
to everything from your justice and your heart.

I limit myself to asking from you one favour : it is, that you
will deign to find a way of sometimes convincing both myself
and my entourage that I have still a small place in your memory
and a great place in your esteem and friendship. By this means,
whatever happens, my sorrows will be mitigated without, as it
seems to me, compromising that which is of permanent import-
ance to me, the happiness of your Majesty.

JOSEPHINE.

No. IA.
(Reply of the Emperor Napoleon to the preceding.}

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.

Compiegne y April 21 , 1810.

My Dear, I have yours of April 1 8th ; it is written in a
bad style. I am always the same ; people like me do not change.
I know not what Eugene has told you. I have not written to
you because you have not written to me, and my sole desire is to
fulfil your slightest inclination.

I see with pleasure that you are going to Malmaison and that
you are contented ; as for me, I shall be so likewise on hearing
news from you and in giving you mine. I say no more about it
until you have compared this letter with yours, and after that I
will leave you to judge which of us two is the better friend.

Adieu, dear ; keep well, and be just for your sake and mine.

NAPOLEON.

April 2$rd. Battle of Lerida. Suchet defeats Spaniards.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 171

No. 2.
REPLY OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.

A thousand, thousand loving thanks for not having forgotten
me. My son has just brought me your letter. With what im-
petuosity I read it, and yet I took a long time over it, for there
was not a word which did not make me weep ; but these tears
were very pleasant ones. I have found my whole heart again
such as it will always be ; there are affections which are life
itself, and which can only end with it.

I was in despair to find my letter of the igth had displeased
you ; I do not remember the exact expressions, but I know what
torture I felt in writing it the grief at having no news from you.

I wrote you on my departure from Malmaison, and since
then how often have I wished to write you ! but I appreciated
the causes of your silence and feared to be importunate with a
letter. Yours has been the true balm for me. Be happy, be as
much so as you deserve ; it is my whole heart which speaks to
you. You have also just given me my share of happiness, and a
share which I value the most, for nothing can equal in my esti-
mation a proof that you still remember me.

Adieu, dear ; I again thank you as affectionately as I shall
always love you. JOSEPHINE.

No. 2A.

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT THE CHATEAU NAVARRE.

Comp'iegne^ April 28, 1810.

My Dear, I have just received two letters from you. I am
writing to Eugene. I have ordered that the marriage of Tascher
with the Princess de la Leyen shall take place.

To-morrow I shall go to Antwerp to see my fleet and to
give orders about the works. I shall return on May i5th.

Eugene tells me that you wish to go to the waters ; trouble
yourself about nothing. Do not listen to the gossip of Paris ; it

172 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

is idle and far from knowing the real state of things. My affec-
tion for you does not change, and I long to know that you are
happy and contented. NAPOLEON.

No. 3.

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

My Dear, I have your letter. Eugene will give you tidings
of my journey and of the Empress. I am very glad that you are
going to the waters. I trust they may do you good.

I wish very much to see you. If you are at Malmaison at
the end of the month, I will come to see you. I expect to be at
St. Cloud on the 3Oth of the month. My health is very good
... it only needs to hear that you are contented and well. Let
me know in what name you intend to travel.

Never doubt the whole truth of my affection for you ; it will
last as long as I. You would be very unjust if you doubted it.

NAPOLEON.

July 1st. Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, abdicates in favour of
his son.

No. 4.

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT THE WATERS OF Aix,
IN SAVOY.

Rambouilletj July 8, 1810.

My Dear, I have your letter of July 8th. You will have
seen Eugene, and his presence will have done you good. I learn
with pleasure that the waters are beneficial to you. The King
of Holland has just abdicated the throne, while leaving the
Regency, according to the Constitution, in the hands of the
Queen. He has quitted Amsterdam and left the Grand Duke
of Berg behind.

I have reunited Holland to France, which has, however, the
advantage of setting the Queen at liberty, and that l unfortunate

1 So Collection Didot, followed by Aubenas. St. Amand has " ton infortune'e
fille."

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 173

girl is coming to Paris with her son the Grand Duke of Berg
that will make her perfectly happy.

My health is good. I have come here to hunt for a few days.
I shall see you this autumn with pleasure. Never doubt my
friendship ; I never change.

Keep well, be cheerful, and believe in the truth of my
attachment. NAPOLEON.

July gth. Holland incorporated with the French Empire.
July lot A. Ney takes Ciudad Rodrigo, after twenty-five days open
trenches.

No. 5.

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT THE WATERS OF Aix,
IN SAVOY.

St. Cloud, July 20, 1810.

My Dear, I have received your letter of July I4th, and
note with pleasure that the waters are doing you good, and that
you like Geneva. I think that you are doing well to go there
for a few weeks.

My health is fairly good. The conduct of the King of
Holland has worried me.

Hortense is shortly coming to Paris. The Grand Duke of
Berg is on his way ; I expect him to-morrow.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 6.

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT THE WATERS OF Aix,
IN SAVOY.

Trianon, August IO, 1810.

Your letter to hand. I was pained to see what a risk you
had run. For an inhabitant of the isles of the ocean to die in a
lake would have been a fatality indeed !

174 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

The Queen is better, and I hope her health will be re-estab-
lished. Her husband is in Bohemia, apparently not knowing
what to do.

I am fairly well, and beg you to believe in my sincere
attachment. NAPOLEON.

August 2ist. Swedes elect Marshal Bernadotte Crown Prince of
Sweden.

August 27 th. Massena takes Almeida.

No. 7.

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT THE WATERS OF Aix,
IN SAVOY.

St. C/oud y September 14, 1810.

My Dear, I have your letter of September gth. I learn
with pleasure that you keep well. There is no longer the
slightest doubt that the Empress has entered on the fourth month
of her pregnancy ; she is well, and is much attached to me.
The young Princes Napoleon are very well ; they are in the
Pavilion d'ltalie, in the Park of St. Cloud.

My health is fairly good. I wish to learn that you are happy
and contented. I hear that one of your entourage has broken a
leg while going on the glacier.

Adieu, dear. Never doubt the interest I take in you and
the affection that I bear towards you. NAPOLEON.

September 2jtk. Battle of Busaco. Like Ebersburg, another of
Massena' s expensive and unnecessary frontal attacks. He loses 5000
men, but next day turns the position of Wellington, who continues to
retire.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 175

No. 8.
To THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.

Paris, this Friday.

My Dear, Yours to hand. I am sorry to see that you have
been ill ; I fear it must be this bad weather.

Madame de la T is one of the most foolish women of

the Faubourg. I have borne her cackle for a very long time ; I
am sick of it, and have ordered that she does not come again to
Paris. There are five or six other old women that I equally wish
to send away from Paris ; they are spoiling the young ones by
their follies.

I will name Madame de Makau Baroness since you wish it,
and carry out your other commissions.

My health is pretty good. The conduct of B appears

to me very ridiculous. I trust to hear that you are better.

Adieu, dear. NAPOLEON.

No. 9.
To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT GENEVA.

Fontainebleau, October I, 1810.

I have received your letter. Hortense, whom I have seen,
will have told you what I think. Go to see your son this
winter ; come back to the waters of Aix next year, or, still
better, wait for the spring at Navarre. I would advise you to go
to Navarre at once, if I did not fear you would get tired of it.
In my view, the only suitable places for you this winter are
either Milan or Navarre ; after that, I approve of whatever you
may do, for I do not wish to vex you in anything.

Adieu, dear. The Empress is as I told you in my last letter.
I am naming Madame de Montesquieu governess of the Children

176 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

of France. Be contented, and do not get excited ; never doubt
my affection for you. NAPOLEON.

October 6tb. Wellington reaches the lines of Torres Vedras.
November tyh. Opening of St. Quentin Canal at Paris.

No. 10.
To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.

Fontainebleau, November 14, 1810.

My Dear, I have received your letter. Hortense has spoken
to me about it. I note with pleasure that you are contented.
I hope that you are not very tired of Navarre.

My health is very good. The Empress progresses satis-
factorily. I will do the various things you ask regarding your
household. Take care of your health, and never doubt my
affection for you. NAPOLEON.

No. ii.
To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.

I have your letter. I see no objection to the marriage of
Mackau with Wattier, if he wishes it ; this general is a very
brave man. I am in good health. I hope to have a son ; I shall
let you know immediately.

Adieu, dear. I am very glad that Madame d'Arberg 1 has
told you things which please you. When you see me, you will
find me with my old affection for you. NAPOLEON.

December yd. English take Mauritius.

1 Josephine's chief maid-of-honour.

SERIES O

1811

" Nun steht das Reich gesichert, wie gegriindet,
Nun fiihlt er froh im Sohne sich gegriindet.

Und sei durch Sie dies letze Gliick beschieden
Der alles wollen kann, will auch den Frieden."

GOETHE (Ibro der Kaiserin von Frankreich Majestat}.

177 M

SERIES O

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 311-312.)

LETTER PAGE

No. I . The New Tear . . . . . . . 3 1 1

More women than men . . . . . .311

Keep well . . . . . . . .311

No. 2. Birth of the King of Rome . . . . . 311

Eugene . . . . . . . .311

No. 4. As fat as a good Normandy farmeress . . .312

.78

No. i.
To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.

Paris, January 8th, i8ll.

I have your New Year's letter. I thank you for its contents.
I note with pleasure that you are well and happy. I hear that
there are more women than men at Navarre.

My health is excellent, though I have not been out for a
fortnight. Eugene appears to have no fears about his wife ; he
gives you a grandson.

Adieu, dear ; keep well. NAPOLEON.

February i gth. Soult defeats Spaniards at the Gebora, near Badajoz.

February 28tb. French occupy Duchy of Oldenburg, to complete
the line of the North Sea blockade against England. This occupation
embitters the Emperor of Russia and his family.

March loth. Mortier captures Badajoz after a siege of 54 days.

March 2Otb. Birth of the King of Rome " a pompous title buried
in the tomb of the Ostrogoths."

No. 2.
To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.

Paris, March 22nd, l8ll.

My Dear, I have your letter. I thank you for it.

My son is fat, and in excellent health. I trust he may con-
tinue to improve. He has my chest, my mouth, and my eyes.
I hope he may fulfil his destiny. I am always well pleased with
Eugene j he has never given me the least anxiety.

NAPOLEON.
179

i8o NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

April 4/. Battle of Fuentes d'Onoro. Massena attacks English,
and is repulsed.

June i Rth. Wellington raises siege of Badajoz, and retires on
Portugal.

June 2$th. French storm Tarragona, whereupon Suchet created
Marshal.

No. 3.
To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

Trianon, August l^th, 1811.

I have your letter. I see with pleasure that you are in good
health. I have been for some days at Trianon. I expect to go
to Compiegne. My health is very good.

Put some order into your affairs. Spend only 60,000, and
save as much every year ; that will make a reserve of 600,000
in ten years for your grandchildren. It is pleasant to be able
to give them something, and be helpful to them. Instead of
that, I hear you have debts, which would be really too bad.
Look after your affairs, and don't give to every one who wants
to help himself. If you wish to please me, let me hear that
you have accumulated a large fortune. Consider how ill I
must think of you, if I know that you, with 125,000 a year,
are in debt.

Adieu, dear ; keep well. NAPOLEON.

No. 4.
To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

Friday, 8 A.M., 1811.

I send to know how you are, for Hortense tells me you were
in bed yesterday. I was annoyed with you about your debts. I
do not wish you to have any ; on the contrary, I wish you to put
a million aside every year, to give to your grandchildren when
they get married.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 181

Nevertheless, never doubt my affection for you, and don't
worry any more about the present embarrassment.

Adieu, dear. Send, me word that you are well. They say
that you are as fat as a good Normandy farmeress.

NAPOLEON.

October 2$thz6th. Battle of Murviedro and capture of Sagunto :
Blake and O'Donnell heavily defeated by Suchet.

December 2Otb. Senatus Consultus puts 120,000 conscripts (born in
1792) at disposal of Government for 1812.

December 26th. Suchet defeats Spanish, and crosses Guadalaviar.

SERIES P
1812

1 'Tis the same landscape which the modern Mars saw
Who march'd to Moscow, led by Fame, the siren !
To lose by one month's frost, some twenty years
Of conquest, and his guard of grenadiers."

BYRON (Don Juan, canto x. stanza 58).

183

SERIES P

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 312-315.)

LETTER PAGE

No. I. Konigsberg . . . . . . .312

No. 2. Gumblnnen . , . , . . . .313

l8l2.

Montgaillard sums up his tirade against Napoleon for the Russian
campaign by noting that it took the Romans ten years to conquer Gaul,
while Napoleon " would not give two to the conquest of that vast desert
of Scythia which forced Darius to flee, Alexander to draw back, Crassus
to perish ; where Julian terminated his career, where Valerian covered
himself with shame, and which saw the disasters of Charles XII."

January tyh. Suchet captures Valencia, 18,000 Spanish troops, and
400 cannon. The marshal is made Duke of AlbufeYa.

January l$th. Imperial decree ordains 100,000 acres to be put
under cultivation of beetroot, for the manufacture of indigenous sugar.

January igth. Taking of Ciudad Rodrigo by Wellington.

January 26th French, under General Friand, occupy Stralsund and
Swedish Pomerania.

February ^4 f th. Treaty of alliance between France and Prussia; the
latter to support France in case of a war with Russia.

March i$th. Senatus Consultus divides the National Guards into
three bans, to include all capable men not already in military service.
They are not to serve outside France. A hundred cohorts, each 970
strong, of the first ban (men between 20 and 26), put at disposal of
Government.

March i^th. Treaty between France and Austria ; reciprocal help,
in need, of 30,000 men and 60 guns. The integrity of European Turkey
mutually guaranteed.

March 26th. Treaty between Russia and Sweden. Bernadotte is
promised Norway by Alexander.

April 7th. The English take Badajoz by assault. "The French
General, Philippon, with but 3000 men, has been besieged thrice within
thirteen months by armies of 50,000 men " (Montgaillard).

April 2^th. Alexander leaves St. Petersburg, to take command of
his Grand Army.

May qth. Napoleon leaves Paris for Germany.

May nth. Assassination of English Prime Minister, Perceval.

'85

1 86 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

May iy//>-28/^. Napoleon at Dresden ; joined there by the Emperor
and Empress of Austria, and afresh "parterre of kings ."

May 2&th. Treaty of Bucharest, between Turkey and Russia. The
Pruth as boundary, and Servia restored to Turkey. This treaty, so fatal
to Napoleon, and of which he only heard in October, was mainly the
work of Stratford de Redcliffe, then aged twenty-five. Wellington,
thinking the treaty his brother's work, speaks of it as " the most important
service that ever fell to the lot of any individual to perform."

No. i.

June \2th. Suchet defeats an Anglo- Spanish army outside Tarra-
gona.

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

June I2th, 1812.

My Dear, I shall always receive news from you with great
interest.

The waters will, I hope, do you good, and I shall see you
with much pleasure on your return.

Never doubt the interest I feel in you. I will arrange all the
matters of which you speak. NAPOLEON.

June i6th. Lord Liverpool Prime Minister of England.
June i8/A. United States declares war against England concerning
rights of neutrals.

June ityh. The captive Pope (Pius VII.) brought to Fontainebleau.

No. 2.
To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

Gumbinnen, June 2Oth, 1812.

I have your letter of June loth. I see no obstacle to your
going to Milan, to be near the Vice-Reine. You will do well to
go incognito. You will find it very hot.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 187

My health is very good. Eugene is well, and is doing good
work. Never doubt the interest I have in you, and my friend-
ship. NAPOLEON.

June 22nd. Napoleon from his headquarters, Wtlkoiuyszki, declares
war against Russia. His army comprised 550,000 men and I2OO cannon,
and he held sway at this epoch over 85,000,000 souls half the then popu-
lation of Europe.

June 24/A French cross the Niemen, over 450,000 strong. 1 Of
these 20,000 are Italians, 80,000 from Confederation of the Rhine,
30,000 Poles, 30,000 Austrians, and 20,000 Prussians. The Russian
army numbers 360,000.

June 2%tk. French enter Wilna, the old capital of Lithuania.
Napoleon remains here till July 1 6th, establishing a provisional government,
and leaving his Foreign Minister, Maret, there.

July itth. Americans invade Canada.

July 1 8th. Treaty of peace between England and Sweden ; and
between Russia and the Spanish Regency at Cadiz.

July 22nd. Battle of Salamanca (Arapiles). Marmont defeated by
Wellington, and badly wounded. French lose nearly 8000 men and
5000 prisoners ; English loss, 5200. The Spanish Regency had decided
to submit to Joseph Bonaparte, but this battle deters them. French
retire behind the Douro.

July 2-^rd. Combat of Mohilow, on the Dneiper. Davoust defeats
Bagration.

July 2$tk. French enter Witepsk.

August ist. Treaty of alliance between Great Britain and Russia.
English fleet henceforward guards the Gulf of Riga. Combat of Obai-
arzma, on the bank of the Drissa. Marshal Oudinot defeats Wittgen-
stein. Russians lose 5000 men and 14 guns.

August qth Battle of Brownstown (near Toronto). Americans
defeated; surrender August i6th with 2500 men and 33 guns to General
Brock.

August 12th. Wellington enters Madrid.

August iJtf>~lSth. Battle and capture of Smolensk. Napoleon defeats
Barclay de Tolly ; Russians lose 1 2,OOO, French less than half.

1 Averaged from early historians of the campaigns. Marbot gives the numbers
155,400 French and 175,000 Allies. Allowing for the secession of the Austrian
and Prussian contingents and for 30,000 prisoners, he gives the actual French
death-roll by February 1813 at 65,000. This is a minimum estimate.

1 88 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

August iSth. Battle of Polotsk, fifty miles from Witepsk, down the
Dwina. St. Cyr defeats Wittgenstein's much larger army, and takes 20
guns. (St. Cyr made marshal for this battle, August 27th.)

August igth. Combat of Volontino-Cova, beyond Smolensk. Ney
defeats Russians.

August 27th. Norway guaranteed Sweden in lieu of Finland by
Russia.

August 28th. Interview at Abo, in Finland, between Alexander,
Bernadotte, and Lord Cathcart (English ambassador). Decided that
Sweden shall join the crusade against France, and that Moreau be im-
ported from U.S.A. to command another army.

August 2()th. Viazma, burnt by Russians, entered by the French.

September ^th. Battle of Borodino (La Moskoiva). Nearly all the
Russian generals are present : Barclay de Tolly, Beningsen, Bagration
(who is killed), all under Kutusoff. Russians lose 30,000 men, French
20,000, including many generals who had survived all the campaigns of
the Revolution. The French, hungry and soaked in rain, have no energy
to pursue.

September i^th. Occupation of Moscow; fired by emissaries of
Rostopchin, its late governor. Of 4000 stone houses only 200 remain,
of 8000 wooden ones 500. Over 20,000 sick and wounded burnt in
their beds. Fire lasts till September 2Oth.

September 1 8th. Russian Army of the Danube under Admiral Tschit-
chagow joins the Army of Reserve.

September 26th. Russian troops from Finland disembark at Riga.

September $Oth. Napoleon Jinds a copy of Treaty of Bucharest at
Moscow.

October 1 1 th. Admiral Tschitchagow with 36,000 men reaches Bresc,
on the Bug, threatening the French communications with Warsaw.

October ijth-iyth. Second combat of Polotsk. Wittgenstein again
defeated by St. Cyr, who it wounded.

October i8th. Combat of Winkowo ; Kutusoff defeats Murat.
Americans defeated at Queenston Heights, on the Niagara, and lose
900 men.

October iqth. Commencement of the Retreat from Moscow.

October 22nd. Burgos captured by Wellington.

October 2$rd. Conspiracy of Malet at Paris; Cambacers to the
rescue. Evacuation of Moscow by Mortier after forty days' occupation.
The French army now retreating has only half its original strength, and
the best cavalry regiments boast only 100 horses.

October 2^th. Battle of Malo-Jaros/avitz. Eugene with 17,000

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 189

men defeats Kutusoff with 6o,OOO ; but Napoleon finds the enemy too strong
and too tenacious to risk the fertile Kaluga route.

November ^rd. Battle of Wiazma. Rearguard action, in which
Ney and Eugene are distinguished.

November gth. Napoleon reaches Smolensk and hears of Malet con-
spiracy.

November i^ih. Evacuation of Smolensk.

November \6th. Russian Army (of the Danube) takes Minsk, and
cuts off the French from the Niemen.

November \6th-i)th. Combat of Krasnoi, twenty-five miles west of
Smolensk. Kutusoff with 30,000 horse and 70,000 foot tries to stop
the French, who have only 25,000 effective combatants. Magnificent
fighting by Ney with his rearguard of 6000.

November 2ist. Russians seize at Borizow the bridges over the Bere-
sina, which are

November 2't t rd. Retaken by Oudinot.

November 26th-2%th. French cross the Beresina, but lose 2O,OOO
prisoners and nearly all their cannon (150).

November 2tyth. Napoleon 'writes Maret he has heard nothing of
France or Spain for Jif teen days.

December -^rd. Twenty-ninth bulletin dated Malodeczna, fifty miles
west of Borisow.

December $th. Napoleon reaches Smorgoni, and starts for France.

December loth. Murat, left in command, evacuates Wilna. French
retreat in utter rout ; " It is not General Kutusoff who routed the French,
it is General Morosow " (the frost), said the Russians.

December i^th. Napoleon reaches Dresden, and

December 1 8th. Paris.

December igth. Evacuation of Kovno and passage of the Niemen.

December 2Oth. Napoleon welcomed by the Senate in a speech by the
naturalist Latepede : " The absence of your Majesty, sire, is always a
national calamity."

December $oth. Defection of the Prussian General York and Con-
vention of Taurogen, near Tilsit, between Russia and Prussia. This
defection is the signal for the uprising of Germany from the Oder to the
Rhine, from the Baltic to the Julienne Alps.

1813.

January $th. Konigsberg occupied by the Russians.
January i$th. Senatus Consultus calls up 250,000 conscripts.

190 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

January 22nd. Americans defeated at Frenchtown, near Detroit,
and lose 1200 men.

January 2$th. Concordat at Fontainebleau between Napoleon and Pope
Pius VII.) with advantageous terms for the Papacy. The Pope, however,
soon breaks faith.

January 28th. Murat deserts the French army for Naples, and leaves
Posen. " Tour husband is very brave on the battlefield, but he is weaker
than a woman or a monk 'when he is not face to face with an enemy. He
has no moral courage " [Napoleon to his sister Caroline, January 24^,1813.
Brotonne, 1032). Replaced by Eugene [Napoleons letter dated January
22nd).

February 1st. Proclamation of Louis XVIII. to the French people
(dated London).

February Sth. Warsaw surrenders to Russia.

February loth. Proclamation of Emperor Alexander calling on the
people of Germany to shake off the yoke of " one man."

February 28th. Sixth Continental Coalition against France. Treaty
signed between Russia and Prussia at Kalisch.

March yd. New treaty between England and Sweden at Stock-
holm : Sweden to receive a subsidy of a million sterling and the island of
Guadaloupe in return for supporting the Coalition with 30,000 men.

March 4/A. Cossacks occupy Berlin. Madison inaugurated Presi-
dent U.S.A.

March qth. Eugene removes his headquarters to Leipsic.

March 12th. French evacuate Hamburg.

March 2ist. Russians and Prussians take new town of Dresden.

April 1st. France declares war on Prussia.

April loth. Death of Lag range, mathematician ; greatly bemoaned by
Napoleon, -who considered his death as a "presentiment" (D'Abrants).

April i^th. Swedish army lands in Germany.

April i$th. Napoleon leaves Paris; arrives Erfurt (April 2$th).
Americans take Mobile.

April i6th. Thorn (garrisoned by 900 Bavarians) surrenders to the
Russians. Fort York (now Toronto) and

April 21th. Upper Canada taken by the Americans.

May 1st. Death of the Abbe Delille, poet. Opening of campaign.
French forces scattered in Germany, 166,000 men; Allies' forces ready
for action, 225,000 men. Marshal Bessires killed by a cannon-ball at
Poserna.

May 2nd. Napoleon with 90,000 men defeats Prussians and Russians at
Lutzen [Gross-Goerschen) with I IO,OOO ; French loss, IO,OOO. Battle won

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 191

chiefly by French artillery. Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia
present.

May 8th. Napoleon and the French reoccupy Dresden.

May iSth. Eugene reaches Milan, and enrols an Italian army
47,000 strong.

May igth-2lsf. Combats of Konigswartha, Bautzen, Hochkirch,
Wurschen. Napoleon defeats Prussians and Russians ; French loss, I2,OOO;
Allies ) 2O,OOO.

May 2yd. Duroc (shot on May 22nd) dies. "Duroc," said the
Emperor, " there is another life. It is there you -will go to await me, and
there r we shall meet again some day."

May 27 th. Americans capture Fort George (Lake Ontario) and

May 2tyh. Defeat English at Sackett's Harbour.

May $oth. French re-enter Hamburg and

June 1st. Occupy Breslau. British frigate Shannon captures Chesa-
peake in fifteen minutes outside Boston harbour.

June Ofth. Armistice of P/essivitz, bet-ween Napoleon and the Allies.

June 6th. Americans (3500) surprised at Burlington Heights by
700 British.

June I $th. Siege of Tarragona raised by Suchet ; English re-embark,
leaving their artillery. " If I had had two marshals such as Suchet, I
should not only have conquered Spain, but I should have kept it" (Napoleon
in Campan's Memoirs).

June 2ist. Battle of Vittoria ; total rout of the French under
Marshal Jourdan and King Joseph. In retreat the army is much more
harassed by the guerillas than by the English.

June 2$rd. Admiral Cockburn defeated at Craney Island by
Americans.

June 2qth. Five hundred Americans surrender to two hundred
Canadians at Beaver's Dams.

June 2$th. Combat of Tolosa. Foy stops the advance of the
English right wing.

June $Oth. Convention at Dresden. Napoleon accepts the mediation of
Austria ; armistice prolonged to August I oth.

July 1st. Souk sent to take chief command in Spain.

July loth. Alliance between France and Denmark.

July 12th. Congress of Prague. Austria, Prussia, and Russia decide
that Germany must be independent, and the French Empire bounded by the
Rhine and the Alps ; " but to reign over 36,000,000 men did not appear to
Napoleon a sufficiently great destiny" (Montgaillard). Congress breaks up
July 2%tL

1 92 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

July 26th. Moreau arrives from U.S., and lands at Gothenburg.

July $ist. Soult attacks Anglo-Spanish army near Roncesvalles in
order to succour Pampeluna. Is repulsed, with loss of 8000 men.

August 1 2th. Austria notifies its adhesion to the Allies.

August 1 $th. Jomini, the Swiss tactician, turns traitor and escapes to
the Allies. He advises them of Napoleon s plans to seize Berlin and relieve
Dantzic [_see letter to Ney, No. 19,714, 20,006, and especially 20,360
{August 1 2th) in Correspondence]]. On August i6th Napoleon writes to
Cambaceres : " Jomini, Ney's chief of staff", has deserted. It is he 'who
published some volumes on the campaigns and who has been in the pay of
Russia for a long time. He has yielded to corruption. He is a soldier of
little value, yet he is a 'writer 'who has grasped some of the sound principles
of war"

August ijth. Renewal of hostilities in Germany. Napoleon's army,
280,000, of whom half recruits who had never seen a battle; the Allies
520,000, excluding militia. In his counter-manifesto to Austria, dated
Bautzen, Napoleon declares " Austria, the enemy of France, and cloaking
her ambition under the mask of a mediation, complicated everything. . . .
But AustriOf our avowed foe, is in a truer guise, and one perfectly obvious.
Europe is therefore much nearer peace ; there is one complication the /ess."

August i%th. Suchet, having blown up fortifications of Tarragona,
evacuates Valentia.

August list. Opening of the campaign in Italy. Eugene, with
50,000 men, commands the Franco-Italian army.

August 2^rd. Combats of Gross-Beeren and Ahrensdorf, near Berlin.
Bernadotte defeats Oudinot with loss of 1 500 men and 20 guns. Berlin
is preserved to the Allies. Oudinot replaced by Ney. Lauriston defeats
Army of Silesia at Goldberg with heavy loss.

August 26th 27th. Battle of Dresden. Napoleon marches a hundred
miles in seventy hours to the rescue. With less than IOO,OOO men he defeats
the Allied Army of l8o,OOO under Schwartzenberg, Wittgenstein, and
Kleist. Austrians lose 2O,OOO prisoners and 60 guns. Moreau is mor-
tally wounded {dies September 1st). Combat of the Katzbach, in Silesia.
Blucher defeats Macdonald with heavy loss, who loses 10,000 to 12,000
men in his retreat.

August 1,0th. Combat of Kulm. Vandamme enveloped in Bohemia,
and surrenders with 12,000 men.

August $ist. Combat of Irun. Soult attacks Wellington to save
San Sebastian, but is repulsed. Graham storms San Sebastian.

September 6th. Combat of Dennewitz (near Berlin). Ney routed
by Bulow and Bernadotte ; loses his artillery, baggage, and 1 2,000 men.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 193

September loth. Americans capture the English flotilla on Lake
Erie.

September \2th. Combat of Villafranca (near Barcelona). Suchet
defeats English General Bentinck.

October jth. Wellington crosses the Bidassoa into France. " It is
on the frontier of France itself that ends the enterprise of Napoleon on
Spain. The Spaniards have given the first conception of a people's war
versus a war of professionals. For it would be a mistake to think that
the battles of Salamanca (July 22nd, 1812) and Vittoria (June zist,
1813) forced the French to abandon the Peninsula. ... It was the
daily losses, the destruction of man by man, the drops of French blood
falling one by one, which in five years aggregated a death-roll of 1 50,000
men. As to the English, they appeared in this war only as they do in
every world-crisis, to gather, in the midst of general desolation, the fruits
of their policy, and to consolidate their plans of maritime despotism, of
exclusive commerce " (Montgaillard).

October I $th. Bavarian army secedes and joins the Austrians.

October \6th-igth. Battles of Leipsic. Allied army 330,000 men
(Schwartzenberg, Bernadotte, Blucher, Beningsen}, Napoleon 175,000.
Twenty-six battalions and ten squadrons of Saxon and Wurtemberg men
leave Napoleon and turn their guns against the French. Napoleon is not de-
feated, but determines to retreat. The rearguard (2O,OOO men} and 2OO
cannon taken. Poniatowski drowned ; Reynier and Lauriston captured.

October 2Oth. Blucher made Field-Marshal.

October 2$rd. French army reach Erfurt.

October $Oth. Combat of Hanau. Napoleon defeats Wrede with heavy
loss.

October $ist. Combat and capture of Bassano by Eugene. English
capture Pampeluna.

November 2nd. Napoleon arrives at Mayence (where typhus carries
off 40,000 French}^ and is

November qth. At St. Cloud.

November loth. Wellington defeats Soult at St. Jean de Luz.

November nth. Surrender of Dresden by Gouvion St. Cyr ; its
French soldiers to return under parole to France. Austrians refuse to
ratify the convention, and 1700 officers and 23,000 men remain prisoners
of war.

November i^th. Napoleon addresses the Senate : " All Europe marched
with us a year ago ; all Europe marches against us to-day. That is because
the world's opinion is directed either by France or England"

N

194 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

November i$th. Eugene defeats Austrians at Caldiero. Senatus-
Consultus puts 300,000 conscripts at disposal of government.

November 2^th. Capture of Amsterdam by Prussian General Bulow.

December 1st. Allies declare at Frankfort that they are at war with
the Emperor and not with France.

December 2nd. Bulow occupies Utrecht. Holland secedes from the
French Empire.

December $th. Capture of Lubeck by the Swedes, and surrender of
Stettin (7000 prisoners), Zamosk (December 22nd), Modlin (December
25th), and Torgau (December 26th, with 10,000 men).

December 8th-i$tb. Soult defends the passage of the Nive costly
to both sides. Murat (now hostile to Napoleon) enters Ancona.

December gth-ioth. French evacuate Breda.

December nth. Treaty of Valen$ay between Napoleon and his prisoner
Ferdinand VII., 'who is to reign over Spain, but not to cede Minorca or
Ceuta (now in their power} to the English.

December i$th. Denmark secedes from French alliance.

December 2ist. Allies, ioo,ooo strong, cross the Rhine in ten divi-
sions (Bale to Schaffhausen). Jomini is said to have contributed to this
violation of Swiss territory.

December 2^th. Final evacuation of Holland by the French.

December 28tb. Austrians capture Ragusa.

December 3 1st. Napoleon, having trouble with his Commons, dissolves
the Corps Legislatif. Austrians capture Geneva. Blucher crosses the
Rhine at Mannheim and Coblentz. Exclusive of Landwehr and levies
en masse, there are now a million trained men in arms against Napoleon.

1814.

" The Allied Powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon
was the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of the Peace of Europe,
the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he renounces,
for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there
is no personal sacrifice, even that of life itself, that he will not be ready
to make for the sake of France." {Act of Abdication.")

January 1st. Capitulation of Danzic, which General Rapp had
defended for nearly a year, having lost 20,000 (out of 30,000) men by
fever. Russians, who had promised to send the French home, break
faith, following the example of Schwartzenberg at Dresden.

January 2nd. Russians take Fort Louis (Lower Rhine) ; and
January ^rd. Austrians Montbe"liard ; and Bavarians Colmar.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 195

January 6th. General York occupies Treves. Convention between
Murat and England and (January nth) with Austria. Murat is to join
Allies with 30,000 men.

January 'jth. Austrians occupy Vesoul.

January 8/. French Rentes 5 per cents, at 47.50. Wurtemberg
troops occupy Epinal.

January loth. General York reaches Forbach (on the Moselle).

January \$th. Cossacks occupy Cologne.

January i6th. Russians occupy Nancy.

January igth. Austrians occupy Dijon; Bavarians, Neufchateau.
Murat's troops occupy Rome.

January 2Oth. Capture of Toul by the Russians ; and of Chambery
by the Austrians.

January 2ist. Austrians occupy Chilons-sur-Saone. General
York crosses the Meuse.

January 2$rd. Pope Pius VII. returns to Rome.

January 2$th. General York and Army of Silesia established at
St. Dizier and Joinville on the Marne. . Austrians occupy Bar-sur-Aube.
Napoleon leaves Paris ; and

January 26th. Reaches Chdlons-sur- Marne ; and

January 2"]th. Retakes St. Dizier in person.

January 2<)th. Combat of Brienne. Napoleon defeats Blucher.

February 1st. Battle of La Rothiere, six miles north of Brienne.
French, 40,000 ; Allies, 1 10,000. Drawn battle, but French retreat on
Troyes ; French evacuate Brussels.

February ^th. Eugene retires upon the Mincio.

February $th. Cortes disavow Napoleon's treaty of Falenfay ivith
Ferdinand VII. Opening of Congress of Chatillon. General York
occupies Chalons-sur-Marne.

February 'jth. Allies seize Troyes.

February 8th. Battle of the Mincio. Eugene with 30,000 con-
scripts defeats Austrians under Bellegarde with 50,000 veterans.

February iQth. Combat of Champaubert. Napoleon defeats Russians.

February llth. Combat of Montmirail. Napoleon defeats Sacken.
Russians occupy Nogent-sur-Seine ; and

February 12th. Laon.

February l^th. Napoleon routs Blucher at Vauchamp. His losses,
IO,OOO men ; French loss, 600 men. In Jive days Napoleon has wiped out
the Jive corps of the Army of Silesia, inflicting a loss c/" 2 5,000 men.

February IJth. Combat near Nangis. Napoleon defeats Austro-
Russians with loss of IO,OOO men and 12 cannon.

196 NAPOLEON'S LETTERS

February iSth. Combat of Montereau. Prince Royal of Wurtem-
berg defeated with loss of 7000.

February 2ist. Comte d'Artois arrives at Veioul.

February 22nd. Combat of Mery-sur-Seine. Sacken defeated by
Boyer's Division, who fight in masks it being Shrove Tuesday.

February 2$th. French re-enter Troyes.

February 2"]th. Bulow captures La Fere with large stores. Battle
of Orthes (Pyrenees), Wellington with 70,000 defeats Soult entrenched
with 38,000. Foy badly wounded.

February 2Jth-28tb. Combats of Bar and Ferte-sur-Aube. Marshals
Oudinot and Macdonald forced to retire on the Seine.

March ist. Treaty of Chaumont Allies against Napoleon.

March 2nd. Bulow takes Soissons.

March 4//>. Macdonald evacuates Troyes.

March Jtt> Battle of Craonne bet-ween Napoleon (30,000 men) and
Sacken (100,000). Indecisive.

March gth. English driven from Berg-op-Zoom.

March qthioth. Combat under Laon : depot of Allied army.
Napoleon fails to capture it.

March \2th. Due d'Angouleme arrives at Bordeaux. This town
is the first to declare for the Bourbons, and to welcome him as
Louis XVIII.

March ityh. Ferdinand VII. set at liberty.

March i^th. Napoleon retakes Rheims from the Russians.

March I gth. Rupture of Treaty of Chatillon.

March 2Oth. Battle of Tarbes. Wellington defeats French.

March 2Oth-2ist. Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube. Indecisive.

March 2lst. Austrians enter Lyons. Augereau retires on Valence.
Had Eugene joined him with his 40,000 men he might have saved
France after Vauchamp.

March 2$th. Combat of Fere-Champenoise. Marmont and Mortier
defeated with Joss of 9000 men.

March 26th. Combat of St. Dizier. Napoleon defeats Russians, and
starts to save Paris.

March 2Qth. Allies outside Paris. Napoleon at Troyes (125 miles off ).

March $oth. Sat tie of Paris. The Emperor's orders disobeyed.
Heavy cannon from Cherbourg left outside Paris, also 20,000 men.
Clarke deserts to the Allies. Joseph runs away, leaving Marmont
permission to capitulate. After losing 5000 men (and Allies 8000)
Marmont evacuates Paris and retires. Napoleon reaches Fontainebleau in
the evening, and hears the bad news.

NAPOLEON'S LETTERS 197

March 3U/. Emperor of Russia, King of Prussia, and 36,000
men enter Paris. Stocks and shares advance. Emperor Alexander
states, " The. Allied Sovereigns will treat no longer with Napoleon
Bonaparte, nor any of his family."

April ist. Senate, with Talleyrand as President, institute a Pro-
visional Government.

April 2nd. Provisional Government address the army : " You are
no longer the soldiers of Napoleon ; the Senate and the whole of France
absolve you from your oaths." They also declare Napoleon deposed
from the throne, and his family from the succession.

April 4/i, Napoleon signs a declaration of abdication in favour of his
son, but after t<wo days' deliberation, and Mormon? s defection, Alexander
insists on an absolute abdication.

April $th. Convention of Chevilly. Marmont agrees to join the
Provisional Government, and disband his army under promise that Allies
will guarantee life and liberty to Napoleon Bonaparte. Funds on March
zgth at 45, now at 63.75.

April 6th. New Constitution decreed by the Senate. The National
Guard ordered to wear the White Cockade in lieu of the Tricolor.

April loth Battle of Toulouse. Hotly contested ; almost a defeat
for Wellington.

April nth. Treaty of Paris between Napoleon and Allies [Austria,
Russia, and Prussia}. Isle of Elba reserved for Napoleon and his family,
with a revenue of ^200,000 ; the Duchies of Parma and Placentia for
Marie Louise and her son. England accedes to this Treaty. Act of
Abdication of the Emperor Napoleon.

April 1 2th. Count d' Artois enters Paris.

April i6th. Convention between Eugene and Austrian General
Bellegarde. Emperor of Austria sees Marie Louise at the little Trianon,
and decides upon his daughter's return to Vienna.

April i8t&. Armistice of Soult and Wellington.

April 2Oth. Napoleon leaves Fontainebleau, and bids adieu to his Old
Guard : " Do not mourn over my fate; if I have determined to survive, it is
in order still to dedicate myself to your glory ; I wish to write about the
great things r we have done together"

April 24//. Louis XVIII. lands at Calais, and

May ^rd. Enters Paris.

May Afth. Napoleon reaches Elba.

May 2gth. Death of Josephine, aged 51.

May $Oth. Peace of Paris,

NOTES

THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS, 1796-97
SERIES A

(The numbers correspond to the numbers of the Letters.]

No. i.

Bonaparte made Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy.
Marmont's account of how this came to pass is probably sub-
stantially correct, as he has less interest in distorting the facts
than any other writer as well fitted for the task. The winter
had rolled by in the midst of pleasures soirees at the Luxembourg,
dinners of Madame Tallien, "nor," he adds, "were we hard to
please." "The Directory often conversed with General Bona-
parte about the army of Italy, whose general Scherer was
always representing the position as difficult, and never ceasing to
ask for help in men, victuals, and money. General Bonaparte
showed, in many concise observations, that all that was super-
fluous. He strongly blamed the little advantage taken from the
victory at Loano, and asserted that, even yet, all that could be
put right. Thus a sort of controversy was maintained between
Scherer and the Directory, counselled and inspired by Bonaparte."
At last when Bonaparte drew up plans afterwards followed
for the invasion of Piedmont, Scherer replied roughly that he who
had drawn up the plan of campaign had better come and execute
it. They took him at his word, and Bonaparte was named
General-in-Chief of the army of Italy (vol. i. 93).

" 7 A.M." Probably written early in March. Leaving Paris
on March nth, Napoleon writes Letourneur, President of the

b&

NOTES 199

Directory, of his marriage with the " citoyenne Tascher Beau-
harnais," and tells him that he has already asked Barras to inform
them of the fact. "The confidence which the Directory has
shown me under all circumstances makes it my duty to keep it
advised of all my actions. It is a new link which binds me to
the fatherland ; it is one more proof of my fixed determination to
find safety only in the Republic." l

No. 2.

" Our good Ossian" The Italian translation of Ossian by
Cesarotti was a masterpiece ; better, in fact, than the original.
He was a friend of Macpherson, and had learnt English in order
to translate his work. Cesarotti lived till an advanced age, and
was sought out in his retirement in order to receive honours and
pensions from the Emperor Napoleon.

" Our good Ossian " speaks, like Homer, of the joy of grief.

No. 4.

" Chauvet is dead" Chauvet is first mentioned in Napoleon's
correspondence in a letter to his brother Joseph, August 9, 1795.
Mdme. Junot, Memoirs, i. 138, tells us that Bonaparte was very
fond of him, and that he was a man of gentle manners and very
ordinary conversation. She declares that Bonaparte had been a
suitor for the hand of her mother shortly before his marriage with
Josephine, and that because the former rejected him, the general
had refused a favour to her son ; this had caused a quarrel
which Chauvet had in vain tried to settle. On March 2Jth
Bonaparte had written Chauvet from Nice that every day that
he delayed joining him, "takes away from my operations one
chance of probability for their success."

No. 5.

St. Amand notes that Bonaparte begins to suspect his wife
in this letter, while the previous ones, especially that of April
3rd, show perfect confidence. Napoleon is on the eve of a

1 No. 89 of Napoleon III.'s Correspondence of Napoleon I., vol. i., the last
letter signed Buonaparte ; after March 24 we only find Bonaparte.

200 NOTES

serious battle, and has only just put his forces into fighting trim.
On the previous day (April 6th) he wrote to the Directory that
the movement against Genoa, of which he does not approve, has
brought the enemy out of their winter quarters almost before he
has had time to make ready. "The army is in a state of alarming
destitution ; I have still great difficulties to surmount, but they
are surmountable : misery has excused want of discipline, and
without discipline never a victory. I hope to have all in good
trim shortly there are signs already ; in a few days we shall be
fighting. The Sardinian army consists of 50,000 foot, and 5000
horse; I have only 45,000 men at my disposal, all told. Chauvet,
the commissary-general, died at Genoa : it is a heavy loss to the
army, he was active and enterprising."

Two days later Napoleon, still at Albenga, reports that he
has found Royalist traitors in the army, and complains that the
Treasury had not sent the promised pay for the men, " but in
spite of all, we shall advance." Massena, eleven years older than
his new commander-in-chief, had received him coldly, but soon
became his right-hand man, always genial, and full of good ideas.
Massena's men are ill with too much salt meat, they have hardly
any shoes, but, as in I Soo, 1 he has never a doubt that Bonaparte
will make a good campaign, and determines to loyally support
him. Poor Laharpe, so soon to die, is a man of a different stamp
one of those, doubtless, of whom Bonaparte thinks when he
writes to Josephine, "Men worry me." The Swiss, in fact, was
a chronic grumbler, but a first-rate fighting man, even when his
men were using their last cartridges.

" The lovers of nineteen" The allusion is lost. Aubenas,
who reproduces two or three of these letters, makes a comment
to this sentence, " Nous n'avons pu trouver un nom a mettre sous
cette fantasque imagination" (vol. i. 317).

" My brother" viz. Joseph. He and Junot reached Paris in
five days, and had a great ovation. Carnot, at a dinner-party,
showed Napoleon's portrait next to his heart, because "I foresee
he will be the saviour of France, and I wish him to know that he
has at the Directory only admirers and friends."

1 Compelled to surrender Genoa, before Marengo takes place, he swears to
the Austrian general he will be back there in fourteen days, and keeps his word.

NOTES 201

No. 6.

Unalterably good. " C'est Joseph peint d'un seul trait."
Aubenas (vol. i. 320).

" If you want a place for any one y you can send him here. I will
give him one" Bonaparte was beginning to feel firm in the
saddle, while at Paris Josephine was treated like a princess.
Under date April 25th, Letourneur, as one of the Directory,
writes him, "A vast career opens itself before you; the Directory
has measured the whole extent of it." They little knew ! The
letter concludes by expressing confidence that their general will
never be reproached with the shameful repose of Capua. In a
further letter, bearing the same date, Letourneur insists on a full and
accurate account of the battles being sent, as they will be necessary
" for the history of the triumphs of the Republic." In a private
letter to the Directory (No. 22O, vol. i. of the Correspondence^
1858), dated Carru, April 24th, Bonaparte tells them that when
he returns to camp, worn-out, he has to work all night to put
matters straight, and repress pillage. "Soldiery without bread
work themselves into an excess of frenzy which makes one blush
to be a man." l ..." I intend to make terrible examples. I
shall restore order, or cease to command these brigands. The
campaign is not yet decided. The enemy is desperate, numerous,
and fights well. He knows I am in want of everything, and
trusts entirely to time ; but I trust entirely to the good genius of
the Republic, to the bravery of the soldiers, to the harmony of
the officers, and even to the confidence they repose in me."

No. 7.

Aubenas goes into ecstasies over this letter, " the longest, most
eloquent, and most impassioned of the whole series" (vol. i. 322).

1 Two days later he evidently feels this letter too severe, and writes: "All
goes well. Pillage is less pronounced. This first thirst of an army destitute of
everything is quenched. The poor fellows are excusable ; after having sighed
for three years at the top of the Alps, they arrive in the Promised Land, and wish
to taste of it."

FACSIMILE OF LETTER DATED APRIL 24, 1796.

ARMEE D1TALIE.

Au Quanirr General dt Cajv\4t-*+. It

fan fuarriemt Je la Rfput/iqut Francaite , unf tt inUv'mtU:

LE GENERAL EN CHEF

DE L'ARMEE D'lTALIE,

-AV*^* ^^-^<?t<^tt>-^^^^^^ ""^-A^-tK**^.

~- -c^zi .*

fcu^- / 'If^- " \.

L- C,

204 NOTES

June 15. Here occurs the first gap in the correspondence,
but his letters to the Directory between this date and the last
letter to Josephine extant (April 24) are full of interest, including
his conscientious disobedience at Cherasco, and the aura of his
destiny to " ride the whirlwind and direct the storm " which first
inspired him after Lodi. On April 28th was signed the armistice
of Cherasco, by which his rear was secured by three strong
fortresses. 1 He writes the Directory that Piedmont is at their
mercy, and that in making the armistice into a definite peace
he trusts they will not forget the little island of Saint-Pierre,
which will be more useful in the future than Corsica and Sardinia
combined. He looks upon northern Italy as practically conquered,
and speaks of invading Bavaria through the Tyrol. "Prodigious "
is practically the verdict of the Directory, and later of Jomini.
" My columns are marching ; Beaulieu flees. I hope to catch
him. I shall impose a contribution of some millions on the Duke
of Parma : he will sue for peace : don't be in a hurry, so that I
may have time to make him also contribute to the cost of the
campaign, by replenishing our stores and rehorsing our waggons
at his expense." Bonaparte suggests that Genoa should pay
fifteen millions indemnity for the frigates and vessels taken in
the port. Certain risks had to be run in invading Lombardy,
owing to want of horse artillery, but at Cherasco he secured
artillery and horses. When writing to the Directory for a dozen
companies, he tells them not to entrust the execution of this
measure " to the men of the bureaus, for it takes them ten days
to forward an order." Writing to Carnot on the same day he
states he is marching against Beaulieu, who has 26,000 foot out
of 38,000 at commencement of campaign. Napoleon's force is
28,000, but he has less cavalry. On May ist, in a letter dated
Acqui to Citizen Faipoult, he asks for particulars of the pictures,

1 Bingham, with his customary ill-nature, remarks that Bonaparte, "in spite
of the orders of the Directory, took upon himself to sign the armistice." These
orders, dated March 6th, were intended for a novice, and no longer applicable to
the conqueror of two armies, and which a Despatch on the way, dated April 25th,
already modified. Jomini admits the wisdom of this advantageous peace, which
secured Nice and Savoy to France, and gave her all the chief mountain-passes
leading into Italy.

NOTES 205

statues, &c., of Milan, Parma, Placentia, Modena, and Bologna.
On the same day Massena writes that his men are needing shoes.
On May 6th Bonaparte announces the capture of Tortona, "a
very fine fortress, which cost the King of Sardinia over fifteen
millions," while Cherasco has furnished him with twenty-eight
guns. Meanwhile Massena has taken possession of Alessandria,
with all its stores. On May gth Napoleon writes to Carnot,
"We have at last crossed the Po. The second campaign is
begun ; Beaulieu . . . has fool-hardiness but no genius. One
more victory, and Italy is ours." A clever commissary-general
is all he needs, and his men are growing fat with good meat
and good wine. He sends to Paris twenty old masters, with fine
examples of Correggio and Michael-Angelo. It is pleasant to
find Napoleon's confidence in Carnot, in view of Barras' in-
sinuations that the latter had cared only for Moreau his type
of Xenophon. In this very letter Napoleon writes Carnot, "I
owe you my special thanks for the care that you have kindly
given to my wife ; I recommend her to you, she is a sincere
patriot, and I love her to distraction." He is sending " a dozen
millions " to France, and hopes that some of it will be useful to
the army of the Rhine. Meanwhile, and two days before
Napoleon's letter to Carnot just mentioned, the latter, on behalf
of the Directory, suggests the division of his command with the
old Alsatian General Kellermann. The Directory's idea of a
gilded pill seems to be a prodigiously long letter. It is one of
those heart-breaking effusions that, even to this day, emanate
from board-rooms, to the dismay and disgust of their recipients.
After plastering him with sickening sophistries as to his "sweetest
recompense," it gives the utterly unnecessary monition, "March !
no fatal repose, there are still laurels to gather " ! Nevertheless,
his plan of ending the war by an advance through the Tyrol strikes
them as too risky. He is to conquer the Milanais, and then divide
his army with Kellermann, who is to guard the conquered pro-
vince, while he goes south to Naples and Rome. As an implied
excuse for not sending adequate reinforcements, Carnot adds, "The
exaggerated rumours that you have skilfully disseminated as to
the numbers of the French troops in Italy, will augment the fear
of our enemies and almost double your means of action." The

206 NOTES

Milanais is to be heavily mulcted, but he is to be prudent. If
Rome makes advances, his first demand should be that the Pope
may order immediate public prayers for the prosperity and success
of the French Republic ! The sending of old masters to France
to adorn her National Galleries seems to have been entirely a
conception of Napoleon's. He has given sufficiently good reasons,
from a patriotic point of view ; for money is soon spent, but a
masterpiece may encourage Art among his countrymen a genera-
tion later. The plunderers of the Parthenon of 1800 could not
henceforward throw stones at him in this respect. But his real
object was to win the people of Paris by thus sending them
Glory personified in unique works of genius.

The Directory, already jealous of his fame, endeavour to
neutralise the effect of his initiative by hearty concurrence, and
write, " Italy has been illumined and enriched by their possession,
but the time is now come when their reign should pass to France
to stablish and beautify that of Liberty." The despatch adds
somewhat naively that the effects of the vandalism committed
during their own Republican orgies would be obliterated by this
glorious campaign, which should "join to the splendour of
military trophies the charm of beneficent and restful arts." The
Directory ends by inviting him to choose one or two artists to
select the most valuable pictures and other masterpieces.

Meanwhile, the Directory's supineness in pushing on the war
on the Rhine is enabling the Austrians to send large reinforce-
ments against Napoleon. Bonaparte, who has recently suffered
(Jomini, vol. viii. 113) from Kellermann's tardiness in sending
reinforcements at an important moment, replies to the letters of
May yth a week later, and writes direct to Citizen Carnot from
Lodi, as well as to the Executive Directory. " On the receipt of
the Directory's letter of the yth your wishes were fulfilled, and
the Milanais is ours. I shall shortly march, to carry out your
intentions, on Leghorn and Rome ; all that will soon be done.
I am writing the Directory relatively to their idea of dividing the
army. I swear that I have no thought beyond the interest of
my country. Moreover, you will always find me straight (dans
la ligne droit}. ... As it might happen that this letter to the
Directory may be badly construed, and since you have assured

NOTES 207

me of your friendship, I take this opportunity of addressing you,
begging you to make what use of it your prudence and attach-
ment for me may suggest. . . . Kellermann will command the
army as well as I, for no one is more convinced than I am that
the victories are due to the courage and pluck of the army ; but
I think joining Kellermann and myself in Italy is to lose every-
thing. I cannot serve willingly with a man who considers
himself the first general in Europe ; and, besides, I believe one
bad general is better than two good ones. War is like govern-
ment : it is an affair of tact. To be of any use, I must enjoy
the same confidence that you testified to me in Paris. Where I
make war, here or there, is a matter of indifference. To serve
my country, to deserve from posterity a page in our history, to
give the Government proofs of my attachment and devotion
that is the sum of my ambition. But I am very anxious not to
lose in a week the fatigues, anxieties, and dangers of two months,
and to find myself fettered. I began with a certain amount of
fame ; I wish to continue worthy of you." To the Directory
he writes that the expeditions to Leghorn, Rome, and Naples are
small affairs, but to be safely conducted must have one general in
command. " I have made the campaign without consulting a
soul ; I should have done no good if I had had to share my views
with another. I have gained some advantages over superior
forces, and in utter want of everything, because, certain of your
confidence, my marches have been as quick as my thoughts."
He foretells disaster if he is shackled with another general.
" Every one has his own method of making war. General
Kellermann has more experience, and will do it better than I ;
but both together will do it very badly." With Barras he knew
eloquence was useless, and therefore bribed him with a million
francs. On May loth was gained the terrible battle of the
Bridge of Lodi, where he won promotion from his soldiers, and
became their " little corporal," and where he told Las Cases that
he " was struck with the possibility of becoming famous. It was
then that the first spark of my ambition was kindled." On entering
Milan he told Marmont, " Fortune has smiled on me to-day, only
because I despise her favours ; she is a woman, and the more
she does for me, the more I shall exact from her. In our day no

2o8 NOTES

one has originated anything great ; it is for me to give the
example."

On May I5th, thirty-five days after the commencement of
the campaign, he entered Milan, under a triumphal arch and
amid the acclamations of the populace. On the previous evening
he was guilty of what Dr. Johnson would have considered a
fitting herald of his spoliation of picture-galleries the perpetration
of a pun. At a dinner-table the hostess observed that his youth
was remarkable in so great a conqueror, whereat he replied,
" Truly, madam, I am not very old at present barely twenty-
seven but in less than twenty-four hours I shall count many
more, for I shall have attained Milan " (milk ans].

On May 22nd he returned to Lodi, but heard immediately
that Lombardy in general, and Pavia in particular, was in open
revolt. He makes a terrible example of Pavia, shooting its chief
citizens, and, for the only time, giving up a town to three hours'
pillage. The Directory congratulates him on these severe
measures : "The laws of war and the safety of the army render
them legitimate in such circumstances." He writes them that
had the blood of a single Frenchman been spilt, he would have
erected a column on the ruins of Pavia, on which should have
been inscribed, " Here was the town of Pavia."

On May 2ist, Carnot replies to the letter from Lodi : "You
appear desirous, citizen general, of continuing to conduct the
whole series of military operations in Italy, at the actual seat of
war. The Directory has carefully considered your proposition,
and the confidence that they place in your talents and republican
zeal has decided this question in the affirmative. . . . The rest of
the military operations towards the Austrian frontier and round
Mantua are absolutely dependent on your success against Beaulieu.
The Directory feels how difficult it would be to direct them from
Paris. It leaves to you in this respect the greatest latitude, while
recommending the most extreme prudence. Its intention is, how-
ever, that the army shall cross into the Tyrol only after the
expedition to the south of Italy."

This was a complete victory for Bonaparte (Bingham calls it
the Directory's "abject apology"), and, as Scott points out, he
now " obtained an ascendency which he took admirable care not

NOTES 209

to relinquish ; and it became the sole task of the Directory, so
far as Italy was concerned, to study phrases for intimating their
approbation of the young general's measures."

He had forged a sword for France, and he now won her
heart by gilding it. On May 1 6th the Directory had asked him
to supply Kellermann with money for the army of the Alps, and
by May 22nd he is able to write that six or eight million francs
in gold, silver, ingots, or jewels is lying at their disposal with one
of the best bankers in Genoa, being superfluous to the needs of
the army. " If you wish it, I can have a million sent to Bale for
the army of the Rhine." He has already helped Kellermann,
and paid his men. He also announces a further million requisi-
tioned from Modena. " As it has neither fortresses nor muskets,
I could not ask for them."

Henceforth he lubricates the manifold wheels of French
policy with Italian gold, and gains thereby the approbation and
gratitude of the French armies and people. Meanwhile he
does not neglect those who might bear him a grudge. To
Kellermann and to all the Directors he sends splendid chargers.
From Parma he has the five best pictures chosen for Paris
the Saint Jerome and the Madonna della Scodella, both by
Correggio; the Preaching of St. John in the Desert, a Paul
Veronese, and a Van Dyck, besides fine examples of Raphael,
Caracci, &c.

The Directory is anxious that he shall chastise the English
at Leghorn, as the fate of Corsica is somewhat dependent on it,
whose loss " will make London tremble." They secretly dread
a war in the Tyrol, forgetting that Bonaparte is a specialist in
mountain fighting, educated under Paoli. They remind him
that he has not sent the plans of his battles. " You ought
not to lack draughtsmen in Italy. Eh ! what are your young
engineer officers doing ? "

On May 3ist Carnot writes to urge him to press the siege
of Mantua, reasserting that the reinforcements which Beaulieu
has received will not take from that army its sense of inferiority,
and that ten battalions of Hoc he's army are on the way. It
approves and confirms the " generous fraternity " with which
Bonaparte offers a million francs to the armies on the Rhine.

o

210 NOTES

On June yth he tells the Directory that Rome is about to fulmi-
nate a bull against the French Royalists, but that he thinks the
expedition to Naples should be deferred, and also a quarrel with
Venice at least till he has beaten his other enemies ; it is not
expedient to tackle every one at once. On June 6th he thanks
Carnot for a kind letter, adding that the best reward to sweeten
labour and perils is the esteem of the few men one really admires.
He fears the hot weather for his men : " we shall soon be in July,
when every march will cost us 200 sick." The same day he
writes General Clarke that all is flourishing, but that the dog-star
is coming on at a gallop, and that there is no remedy against its
malign influence. " Luckless beings that we are ! Our position
with nature is merely observation, without control." He holds
that the only safe way to end the campaign without being beaten
is not to go to the south of Italy. On the gth he thanks Keller-
man n for the troops he sends, and their excellent discipline. On
the nth always as anxious to help his generals as himself he
urges the Directory to press the Swiss Government to refund
La Harpe's property to his children.

"Presentiment of ill" Marmont tells us what this was. The
glass of his wife's portrait, which he always carried with him, was
found to be broken. Turning frightfully pale, he said to Mar-
mont, " My wife is either very ill, or unfaithful." She left Paris
June 24th. Marmont says, " Once at Milan, General Bona-
parte was very happy, for at that time he lived only for his wife.
. . . Never love more pure, more true, more exclusive, has pos-
sessed the heart of any man."

No. 8.

Between June I5th and the renewal of Josephine's corre-
spondence a glance at the intervening dates will show that
Bonaparte and his army were not wasting time. The treaty
with Rome was a masterpiece, as in addition to money and
works of art, he obtained the port of Ancona, siege-guns with
which to bombard Mantua, and best of all, a letter from the
Pope to the faithful of France, recommending submission to the
new government there. In consideration of this, and possibly

NOTES 211

yielding to the religious sentiments of Josephine, he spared Rome
his presence the only capital which he abstained from entering,
when he had, as in the present case, the opportunity. It was
not, however, until February 1797 that the Pope fulfilled his
obligations under this Treaty, and then under new compulsion.
Fortune. Josephine's dog (see note to Letter 2, Series B).

SERIES B

No. i.

July 6, Sortie from Mantua of the Austrians. According to
Jomini the French on this occasion were not successful (vol. viii.
162). In one of his several letters to the Directory on this date
is seen Bonaparte's anxiety for reinforcements ; the enemy has
already 67,000 men against his available 40,000. Meanwhile
he is helping the Corsicans to throw off the British yoke, and
believes that the French possession of Leghorn will enable the
French to gain that island without firing a shot.

No. 2.

Marmirolo. On July 1 2th he writes to the Directory from
Verona that for some days he and the enemy have been watching
each other. "Woe to him who makes a false move." He
indicates that he is about to make a coup de main on Mantua,
with 300 men dressed in Austrian uniforms. He is by no
means certain of success, which "depends entirely on luck
either on a dog * or a goose." He complains of much sickness
among his men round Mantua, owing to the heat and miasmata
from the marshes, but so far no deaths. He will be ready to
make Venice disgorge a few millions shortly, if the Directory
make a quarrel in the interim.

On the 1 3th he was with Josephine, as he writes from Milan,
but leaves on the I4th, and on the I7th is preparing a coup de

1 Murat, says Marmont, who hated him, was the culprit here.

212 NOTES

main with 800 grenadiers, which, as we see from the next letter,
fails.

Fortune. Arnault tells an anecdote of this lap-dog, which in
1794, in the days of the Terror, had been used as a bearer of
secret despatches between Josephine in prison and the governess
of her children outside the grille. Henceforward Josephine
would never be parted from it. One day in June 1797 the dog
was lying on the same couch as its mistress, and Bonaparte,
accosting Arnault and pointing to the dog with his finger, said,
" You see that dog there. He is my rival. He was in possession
of Madame's bed when I married her. I wished to make him
get out vain hope ! I was told I must resign myself to sleep
elsewhere, or consent to share with him. That was sufficiently
exasperating, but it was a question of taking or leaving, and I
resigned myself. The favourite was less accommodating than I.
I bear the proof of it in this leg."

Not content with barking at every one, he bit not only men
but other dogs, and was finally killed by a mastiff, much to
Bonaparte's secret satisfaction ; for, as St. Amand adds, " he
could easily win battles, accomplish miracles, make or unmake
principalities, but could not show a dog the door."

No. 3.

" The village of Virgil" Michelet (Jusqu'au 18 Brumaire]
thinks that here he got the idea of the Fete of Virgil, established
a few months later. In engravings of the hero of Italy we see
him near the tomb of Virgil, his brows shaded by a laurel
crown.

No. 4.

Achille. Murat. He had been appointed one of Bonaparte's
aides-de-camp February 29th, made General of Brigade after the
Battle of Lodi (May loth) ; is sent to Paris after Junot with
nine trophies, and arrives there first. He flirts there outrageously
with Josephine, but does not escort her back to her husband.

NOTES 213

No. 5.

1 Will 0' the wisp" i.e. r ardent. This word, according to
Menage, was given by the Sieur de St. Germain to those lively
young sparks who, about the year 1634, used to meet at the
house of Mr. Marsh (M. de Marest), who was one of them.

No. 6.

The needs of the army. Difficulties were accumulating, and
Napoleon was, as he admits at St. Helena, seriously alarmed.
Wurmser's force proves to be large, Piedmont is angry with the
Republic and ready to rise, and Venice and Rome would
willingly follow its example ; the English have taken Porto-
Ferrajo, and their skilful minister, Windham, is sowing the seeds
of discord at Naples. Although on July 2Oth he has written a
friend in Corsica that " all smiles on the Republic," he writes
Saliceti, another brother Corsican, very differently on August
ist. "Fortune appears to oppose us at present. ... I have
raised the siege of Mantua ; I am at Brescia with nearly all my
army. I shall take the first opportunely of fighting a battle with
the enemy which will decide the fate of Italy if I'm beaten, I
shall retire on the Adda ; if I win, I shall not stop in the marshes
of Mantua. . . . Let the citadels of Milan, Tortona, Alessandria,
and Pavia be provisioned. . . . We are all very tired; I have ridden
five horses to death." Reading between the lines of this letter to
Josephine, it is evident that he thinks she will be safer with him
than at Milan Wurmser having the option of advancing via
Brescia on Mi'an, and cutting off the French communications.
The Marshal's fatal mistake was in using only half his army for
the purpose. This raising of the siege of Mantua (July 3ist)
was heart-rending work for Bonaparte, but, as Jomini shows, he
had no artillery horses, and it was better to lose the siege train,
consisting of guns taken from the enemy, than to jeopardise the
whole army. Wurmser had begun his campaign successfully by
defeating Massena, and pushing back Sauret at Salo. " The
Austrians," wrote Massena, " are drunk with brandy, and fight
furiously," while his men are famished and can only hang on by

2i 4 NOTES

their teeth. Bonaparte calls his first war council, and thinks for
a moment of retreat, but Augereau insists on fighting, which is
successfully accomplished while Wurmser is basking himself
among the captured artillery outside Mantua. Bonaparte had
been perfectly honest in telling the Directory his difficulties, and
sends his brother Louis to the Directory for that purpose on the
eve of battle. He is complimented in a letter from the Directory
dated August I2th a letter probably the more genuine as they
had just received a further despatch announcing a victory. On
August 3rd Bonaparte won a battle at Lonato, and the next day
Augereau gained great laurels at Castiglione ; in later years the
Emperor often incited Augereau by referring to those " fine days
of Castiglione." Between July 2Qth and August I2th the
French army took 15,000 prisoners, 70 guns, and wounded or
killed 25,000, with little more than half the forces of the
Austrians. Bonaparte gives his losses at 7000, exclusive of the
15,000 sick he has in hospital ; from July 3ist to August 6th he
never changed his boots, or lay down in a bed. Nevertheless,
Jomini thinks that he showed less vigour in the execution of his
plans than in the earlier part of the campaign ; but, as an opinion
per contra, we may note that the French grenadiers made their
" little Corporal " Sergeant at Castiglione. Doubtless the
proximity of his wife at the commencement (July 3ist) made
him more careful, and therefore less intrepid. On August i8th
he wrote Kellermann with an urgent request for troops. On
August 1 7th Colonel Graham, after hinting at the frightful
excesses committed by the Austrians in their retreat, adds in a
postscript " From generals to subalterns the universal language
of the army is that we must make peace, as we do not know how
to make war." 1

On August 1 3th Bonaparte sent to the Directory his opinion
of most of his generals, in order to show that he required some
better ones. Some of his criticisms are interesting :

Berthier " Talents, activity, courage, character ; he has
them all."

Augereau " Much character, courage, firmness, activity ; is

1 J. H. Rose in Eng. Hist. Review, January 1899.

NOTES 215

accustomed to war, beloved by the soldiers, lucky in his opera-
tions."

Massena " Active, indefatigable, has boldness, grasp, and
promptitude in making his decisions."

Serrurier " Fights like a soldier, takes no responsibility ;
determined, has not much opinion of his troops, is often ailing."

Despinois " Flabby, inactive, slack, has not the genius for
war, is not liked by the soldiers, does not fight with his head ;
has nevertheless good, sound political principles : would do well
to command in the interior."

Sauret " A good, very good soldier, not sufficiently en-
lightened to be a general ; unlucky."

Of eight more he has little good to say, but the Directory in
acknowledging his letter of August 23rd remarks that he has
forgotten several officers, and especially the Irish general Kil-
maine.

About the same time Colonel Graham (Lord Lynedoch) was
writing to the British Government from Trent that the Austrians,
despite their defeats, were " undoubtedly brave fine troops, and
an able chief would put all to rights in a little time." 1 On
August 1 8th he adds " When the wonderful activity, energy,
and attention that prevail in the French service, from the
commander-in-chief downward, are compared to the indecision,
indifference, and indolence universal here, the success of their
rash but skilful manoeuvres is not surprising."

No. 7.

Brescia. Napoleon was here on July 27th, meeting Josephine
about the date arranged (July 25th), and she returned with him.
On July 29th they were nearly captured by an Austrian ambus-
cade near Ceronione, and Josephine wept with fright. " Wurm-
ser," said Napoleon, embracing her, " shall pay dearly for those
tears." She accompanies him to Castel Nova, and sees a skirmish
at Verona; but the sight of wounded men makes her leave the army,
and, finding it impossible to reach Brescia, she flees vid Ferrara

1 See Essay by J. H. Rose in Eng. Hist. Revuw, January 1899.

216 NOTES

and Bologna to Lucca. She leaves the French army in dire straits
and awaits news anxiously, while the Senate of Lucca presents
her with the oil kept exclusively for royalty. Thence she goes
via Florence to Milan. By August Jth the Austrian army was
broken and in full retreat, and Bonaparte conducts his correspond-
ence from Brescia from August nth to i8th. On the 25th he
is at Milan, where he meets his wife after her long pilgrimage,
and spends four days. By August 3Oth he is again at Brescia,
and reminds her that he left her " vexed, annoyed, and not well."
From a letter to her aunt, Madame de Renaudin, at this time,
quoted by Aubenas, we can see her real feelings : " I am feted
wherever I go ; all the princes of Italy give me fetes, even the
Grand Duke of Tuscany, brother of the Emperor. Ah, well, I
prefer being a private individual in France. I care not for
honours bestowed in this country. I get sadly bored. My
health has undoubtedly a great deal to do with making me
unhappy ; I am often out of sorts. If happiness could assure
health, I ought to be in the best of health. I have the most
amiable husband imaginable. I have no time to long for any-
thing. My wishes are his. He is all day long in adoration
before me, as if I were a divinity ; there could not possibly be a
better husband. M. Serbelloni will tell you how he loves me.
He often writes to my children ; he loves them dearly. He is
sending Hortense, by M. Serbelloni, a lovely repeater, jewelled
and enamelled ; to Eugene a splendid gold watch."

No. 9.

" / hope we shall get into Trent by the $th" He entered the
city on that day. In his pursuit of Wurmser, he and his army
cover sixty miles in two days, through the terrific Val Saguna
and Brenta gorges, brushing aside opposition by the way.

No. 12.

" One of these nights the doors will be burst open with a bang"
Apparently within two or three days, for Bonaparte is at Milan
on September 2ist, and stays with his wife till October I2th.

NOTES 217

On October 1st he writes to the Directory that his total forces
are only 27,900 ; and that the Austrians, within six weeks, will
have 50,000. He asks for 26,000 more men to end the war
satisfactorily : " If the preservation of Italy is dear to you, citizen
directors, send me help." On the 8th they reply with the pro-
mise of IO,OOO to I2,OOO, to which he replies (October I ith) that
if 10,000 have started only 5000 will reach him. The Directory
at this time are very poverty stricken, and ask him once more to
pay Kellermann's Army of the Alps, as being " to some extent
part of that which you command." This must have been
" nuts and wine " for the general who was to have been super-
seded by Kellermann a few months earlier. On October ist
they advise him that Wurmser's name is on the list of emigrants,
and that if the Marshal will surrender Mantua at once he need
not be sent to Paris for trial. If, however, Bonaparte thinks that
this knowledge will make the old Marshal more desperate, he is not
to be told. Bonaparte, of course, does not send the message.
For some time these letters had been signed by the President
Lareveillere Lepeaux, but on September iQth there was a charm-
ing letter from Carnot : " Although accustomed to unprecedented
deeds on your part, our hopes have been surpassed by the victory
of Bassano. What glory is yours, immortal Bonaparte ! Moreau
was about to effect a juncture with you when that wretched
reculade of Jourdan upset all our plans. Do not forget that
immediately the armies go into winter quarters on the Rhine
the Austrians will have forces available to help Wurmser." At
Milan Bonaparte advises the Directory that he is dealing with
unpunished " fripponeries " in the commissariat department. Here
he receives from young Kellermann, afterwards the hero of
Marengo, a precis of the condition of the Brescia fever-hospitals,
dated October 6th : " A wretched mattress, dirty and full of
vermin, a coarse sheet to each bed, rarely washed, no counter-
panes, much dilatoriness, such is the spectacle that the fever-
hospitals of Brescia present ; it is heart-rending. The soldiers
justly complain that, having conquered opulent Italy at the cost
of their life-blood, they might, without enjoying comforts, at
least find the help and attention which their situation demands.
Bread and rice are the only passable foods, but the meat is hard.

2i8 NOTES

I beg that the general-in-chief will immediately give attention to
his companions in glory, who wish for restored health only that
they may gather fresh laurels." Thus Bonaparte had his Bloem-
fontein, and perhaps his Burdett-Coutts.

On October 1 2th he tells the Directory that Mantua will
not fall till February the exact date of its capitulation. One is
tempted to wonder if Napoleon was human enough to have
inserted one little paragraph of his despatch of October I2th
from Milan with one eye on its perusal by his wife, as it contains
a veiled sneer at Hoche's exploits : " Send me rather generals of
brigade than generals of division. All that comes to us from
La Vendee is unaccustomed to war on a large scale ; we have
the same reproach against the troops, but they are well-hardened."
On the same day he shows them that all the marvels of his
six months' campaign have cost the French Government only
.440,000 (eleven million francs). He pleads, however, for special
auditors to have charge of the accounts. Napoleon had not only
made war support war, but had sent twenty million francs requi-
sitioned in Italy to the Republic. On October I2th he leaves
Milan for Modena, where he remains from the I4th to the i8th,
is at Bologna on the igth, and Ferrara from the igth to the
22nd, reaching Verona on the 24th.

Jomini has well pointed out that Napoleon's conception of
making two or three large Italian republics in place of many
small ones minimised the power of the Pope, and also that of
Austria, by abolishing its feudal rigours.

By this time Bonaparte is heartily sick of the war. On
October 2nd he writes direct to the Emperor of Germany :
" Europe wants peace. This disastrous war has lasted too long ; "
and on the i6th to Marshal Wurmser : "The siege of Mantua,
sir, is more disastrous than two campaigns." His weariness is
tempered with policy, as Alvinzi was en route, and the French
reinforcements had not arrived, not even the 10,000 promised in
May.

No. 13.

" Corsica is ours" At St. Helena he told his generals, " The
King of England wore the Corsican crown only two years.

NOTES 219

This whim cost the British treasury five millions sterling. John
Bull's riches could not have been worse employed." He writes
to the Directory on the same day : " The expulsion of the
English from the Mediterranean has considerable influence on
the success of our military operations in Italy. We can exact
more onerous conditions from Naples, which will have the
greatest moral effect on the minds of the Italians, assures our
communications, and makes Naples tremble as far as Sicily." On
October 25th he writes: "Wurmser is at his last gasp; he is
short of wine, meat, and forage ; he is eating his horses, and has
15,000 sick. In fifty days Mantua will either be taken or
delivered."

No. 14.

Verona. Bonaparte had made a long stay at Verona, to
November 4th, waiting reinforcements which never came. On
November 5th he writes to the Directory : " All the troops of
the Directory arrive post-haste at an alarming rate, and we we
are left to ourselves. Fine promises and a few driblets of men
are all we have received;" and on November I3th he writes
again : " Perchance we are on the eve of losing Italy. None of
the expected reinforcements have arrived. ... I am doing my
duty, the officers and men are doing theirs ; my heart is breaking,
but my conscience is at rest. Help send me help ! . . . I
despair of preventing the relief of Mantua, which in a week
would have been ours. The wounded are the pick of the army ;
all our superior officers, all our picked generals are hors de combat ;
those who have come to me are so incompetent, and they have
not the soldiers' confidence. The army of Italy, reduced to a
handful of men, is exhausted. The heroes of Lodi, Millesimo,
Castiglione, and Bassano have died for their country, or are in
hospital ; 1 to the corps remain only their reputation and their
glory. Joubert, Lannes, Lanusse, Victor, Murat, Chabot,
Dupuy, Rampon, Pijon, Menard, Chabran, and St. Hilaire are
wounded. ... In a few days we shall make a last effort. Had I
received the 83rd, 3500 strong, and of good repute in the army,

1 With fevers caught in the rice-swamps of Lombardy.

220 NOTES

I would have answered for everything. Perhaps in a few days
40,000 will not suffice." The reason for this unwonted pes-
simism was the state of his troops. His brother Louis reported
that Vaubois' men had no shoes and were almost naked, in the
midst of snow and mountains ; that desertions were taking place
of soldiers with bare and bleeding feet, who told the enemy the
plans and conditions of their army. Finally Vaubois bungles,
through not knowing the ground, and is put under the orders of
Massena, while two of his half-brigades are severely censured by
Napoleon in person for their cowardice.

No. 15.

" Once more I breathe freely." Thrice had Napoleon been
foiled, as much by the weather and his shoeless soldiers as by
numbers (40,000 Austrians to his 28,000), and his position was
well-nigh hopeless on November I4th. He trusts Verona to
3000 men, and the blockade of Mantua to Kilmaine, and the
defence of Rivoli to Vaubois the weakest link in the chain and
determines to manoeuvre by the Lower Adige upon the Austrian
communications. He gets forty-eight hours' start, and wins
Arcola ; in 1814 he deserved equal success, but bad luck and
treachery turned the scale. The battle of Arcola lasted seventy-
two hours, and for forty-eight hours was in favour of the
Austrians. Pending the arrival of the promised reinforcements,
the battle was bought too dear, and weakened Bonaparte more
than the Austrians, who received new troops almost daily. He
replaced Vaubois by Joubert.

No. 1 8.

" The 2()th." But he is at Milan from November 27th to
December i6th. Most people know, from some print or other, the
picture by Gros of Bonaparte, flag in hand, leading his men across
the murderous bridge of Arcola. It was during this visit to Milan
that his portrait was taken, and Lavalette has preserved for us the
domestic rather than the dignified manner of the sitting accorded.
He refused to give a fixed time, and the artist was in despair,

NOTES 221

until Josephine came to his aid by taking her husband on her
knees every morning after breakfast, and keeping him there a
short time. Lavalette assisted at three of these sittings ap-
parently to remove the bashful embarrassment of the young
painter. St. Amand suggests that Gros taking the portrait of
Bonaparte at Milan, just after Arcola, would, especially under
such novel conditions, prove a fitting theme for our artists to-day !
From December i6th to 2ist Bonaparte is at Verona, whence he
returns to Milan. There is perhaps a veiled innuendo in Barras'
letter of December 3<Dth. Clarke had advised the Directory that
Alvinzi was planning an attack, which Barras mentions, but
adds : " Your return to Milan shows that you consider another
attack in favour of Wurmser unlikely, or, at least, not imminent."
He is at Milan till January yth, whence he goes to Bologna, the
city which, he says, " of all the Italian cities has constantly shown
the greatest energy and the most considerable share of real infor-
mation."

No. 20.

General Brune. This incident fixes the date of this letter to
be 23 Nivose (January 12), and not 23 Messidor (July il), as
hitherto published in the French editions of this letter. On
January 12, 1797, he wrote General Clarke from Verona (No.
1375 of the Correspondence] almost an exact duplicate of this
letter a very rare coincidence in the epistles of Napoleon.
" Scarcely set out from Roverbella, I learnt that the enemy had
appeared at Verona. Massena made his dispositions, which have
been very successful ; we have made 600 prisoners, and we have
taken three pieces of cannon. General Brune has had seven
bullets in his clothes, without having been touched by one of
them ; this is what it is to be lucky. We have had only ten
men killed, and a hundred wounded." Bonaparte had left
Bologna on January 10, reaching Verona via Roverbella on
the i 2th.

No. 21.

February yd. u / wrote you this morning." This and probably
other letters describing Rivoli, La Favorite, and the imminent

222 NOTES

fall of Mantua, are missing. In summing up the campaign
Thiers declares that in ten months 55,000 French (all told, in-
cluding reinforcements) had beaten more than 200,000 Austrians,
taken 80,000 of them prisoners, killed and wounded 20,000.
They had fought twelve pitched battles, and sixty actions. These
figures are probably as much above the mark as those of Napoleon's
detractors are below it.

One does not know which to admire most, Bonaparte's
absence from Marshal Wurmser's humiliation, or his abstention
from entering Rome as a conqueror. The first was the act of a
perfect gentleman, worthy of the best traditions of chivalry, the
second was the very quintessence of far-seeing sagacity, not
" baulking the end half-won, for an instant dole of praise." As
he told Mdme. de Remusat at Passeriano, " I conquered the Pope
better by not going to Rome than if I had burnt his capital."
Scott has compared his treatment of Wurmser to that of the
Black Prince with his royal prisoner, King John of France.
Wurmser was an Alsatian on the list of emigres, and Bonaparte
gave the Marshal his life by sending him back to Austria, a fact
which Wurmser requited by warning Bonaparte of a conspiracy
to poison him l in Romagna, which Napoleon thinks would other-
wise have been successful.

No. 24.

"Perhaps I shall make peace with the Pope? On February
1 2th the Pope had written to "his dear son, General Bonaparte,"
to depute plenipotentiaries for a peace, and ends by assuring him
"of our highest esteem," and concluding with the paternal
apostolic benediction. Meanwhile Napoleon, instead of sacking
Faenza, has just invoked the monks and priests to follow the
precepts of the Gospel.

No. 25.

" The unlimited power you hold over me." There seems no
question that during the Italian campaigns he was absolutely
faithful to Josephine, although there was scarcely a beauty in

1 With aqua tofana, says Marmont,

NOTES 223

Milan who did not aspire to please him and to conquer him. In
his fidelity there was, says St. Amand, much love and a little
calculation. As Napoleon has said himself, his position was
delicate in the extreme ; he commanded old generals ; every one
of his movements was jealously watched ; his circumspection was
extreme. His fortune lay in his wisdom. He would have to
forget himself for one hour, and how many of his victories
depended upon no more ! The celebrated singer, La Grassini,
who had all Italy at her feet, cared only for the young general
who would not at that time vouchsafe her a glance.

SERIES C

THE CAMPAIGN OF MARENGO, 1800

Elected to the joint consulate by the events of the i8th
Brumaire (November 9), 1799, Napoleon spent the first Christ-
mas Day after his return from Egypt in writing personal letters
to the King of England and Emperor of Austria, with a view to
peace. He asks King George how it is that the two most
enlightened nations of Europe do not realise that peace is the
chief need as well as the chief glory . . . and concludes by
asserting that the fate of all civilised nations is bound up in the
conclusion of a war " which embraces the entire world." His
efforts fail in both cases. On December ijth he makes the
Moniteur the sole official journal. On February jth, 1800, he
orders ten days' military mourning for the death of Washington
that " great man who, like the French, had fought for equality
and liberty." On April 22nd he urges Moreau to begin his
campaign with the army ot the Rhine, an order reiterated on
April 24th through Carnot, again made Minister of War. A
diversion to save the army of Italy was now imperative. On
May 5th he congratulated Moreau on the battle of Stockach,
but informs him that Massena's position is critical, shut up in
Genoa, and with food only till May 25th. He advises Massena
the same day that he leaves Paris that night to join the Army of

224 NOTES

Reserve, that the cherished child of victory must hold out as
long as possible, at least until May 3Oth. At Geneva he met
M. Necker. On May I4th he writes General Mortier, com-
mandant of Paris, to keep that city quiet, as he will have still to
be away a few days longer, which he trusts "will not be in-
different to M. de Melas."

No. 3.

This letter was written from Ivrea, May 29th, 1800. On
the 3Oth Napoleon is at Vercelli, on June ist at Novara, and on
June 2nd in Milan. Eugene served under Murat at the passage
of the Ticino, May 3ist.

M.'s ; probably " Maman," i.e. his mother.

Cherries. This fruit had already tender associations. Las
Cases tells us that when Napoleon was only sixteen he met at
Valence Mademoiselle du Colombier, who was not insensible to
his merits. It was the first love of both. ..." We were the
most innocent creatures imaginable," the Emperor used to say ;
"we contrived little meetings together. I well remember one
which took place on a midsummer morning, just as daylight
began to dawn. It will scarcely be believed that all our happi-
ness consisted in eating cherries together" (vol. i. 81, 1836).

No. 4.

Milan. He arrived here on June 2nd, and met with a great
reception. In his bulletin of June 5th we find him assisting at
an improvised concert. It ends, somewhat quaintly for a bulletin,
as follows : " Italian music has a charm ever new. The celebrated
singers, Billington, 1 La Grassini, and Marchesi are expected at
Milan. They say they are about to start for Paris to give
concerts there." According to M. Frederic Masson, this Paris
visit masked ulterior motives, and was arranged at a dejeuner on the
same day, where La Grassini, Napoleon, and Berthier breakfasted
together. Henceforward to Marengo Napoleon spends every

1 On reaching London a few months later Mistress Billington was engaged
simultaneously by Drury Lane and Covent Garden, and during the following year
harvested 10,000 from these two engagements.

NOTES 225

spare day listening to the marvellous songstress, and as at Eylau,
seven years later, runs great risks by admitting Venus into the
camp of Mars. At St. Helena he declares that from June 3rd to
8th he was busy " receiving deputations, and showing himself to
people assembled from all parts of Lombardy to see their libe-
rator." The Austrians had declared that he had died in Egypt.
The date of No. 4 should probably be June 9th, on which day
the rain was very heavy. He reached Stradella the next day.

SERIES D

No. i.

The date is doubtless 27 Messidor (July 16), and the fete
alluded to that of July 14. The following day Napoleon signed
the Concordat with the Pope, which paved the way for the
restoration of the Roman Catholic religion in France (Sep-
tember n).

The blister. On July 7 he quaintly writes Talleyrand:
"They have put a second blister on my arm, which prevented
me giving audience yesterday. Time of sickness is an opportune
moment for coming to terms with the priests."

Some plants. No trait in Josephine's character is more charac-
teristic than her love of flowers not the selfish love of a mere
collector, 1 but the bountiful joy of one who wishes to share her
treasures. Malmaison had become the " veritable Jardin des
Plantes" of the epoch, 2 far better than its Paris namesake in
those days. The splendid hothouses, constructed by M. Thibaut,
had been modelled on those of Kew, and enabled Josephine to
collect exotics from every clime, and especially from her beloved
Martinique. No jewel was so precious to her as a rare and
beautiful flower. The Minister of Marine never forgot to

1 She was, however, no mere amateur, and knew, says Mile. d'Avrillon, the
names of all her plants, the family to which they belonged, their native soil, and
special properties.

- Rueil, le chateau de Richelieu et la Malmaison, by Jacquin and Duesberg,
p. 130 ; in Aubenas'y^/A/'wf, vol. i.

P

226 NOTES

instruct the deep-sea captains to bring back floral tributes from
the far-off tropics. These often fell, together with the ships,
into the hands of the British sea-dogs, but the Prince Regent
always had them sent on from London, and thus rendered, says
Aubenas, " the gallant homage of a courtly enemy to the charm-
ing tastes and to the popularity already acquired by this universally
beloved woman." Her curator, M. Aime Bonpland, was an
accomplished naturalist, who had been with Humboldt in
America, and brought thence 6000 new plants. On his return
in 1804 he was nominated by Josephine manager of the gardens
of Malmaison and Navarre.

In the splendid work, Le Jardin de la Malmaison^ in three
volumes, are plates, with descriptions of 184 plants, mostly new,
collected there from Egypt, Arabia, the United States, the
Antilles, Mexico, Madeira, the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius,
the East Indies, New Caledonia, Australia, and China. To
Josephine we owe the Camellia, and the Catalpa, from the flora
of Peru, whilst her maiden name (La Pagerie) was perpetuated
by Messrs. Pavon and Ruiz in the Lapageria.

If the weather is as bad. As we shall see later, Bourrienne
was invaluable to Josephine's court for his histrionic powers, and
he seems to have been a prime favourite. On the present
occasion he received the following " Account of the Journey to
Plombieres. To the Inhabitants of Malmaison," probably the
work of Count Rapp, touched up by Hortense (Bourrienne's
Napoleon, vol. ii. 85. Bentley, 1836) :

" The whole party left Malmaison in tears, which brought
on such dreadful headaches that all the amiable company were
quite overcome by the idea of the journey. Madame Bonaparte,
mere, supported the fatigues of this memorable day with the
greatest courage ; but Madame Bonaparte, consulesse, did not
show any. The two young ladies who sat in the dormeuse,
Mademoiselle Hortense and Madame Lavalette, were rival
candidates for a bottle of Eau de Cologne ; and every now and
then the amiable M. Rapp made the carriage stop for the
comfort of his poor little sick heart, which overflowed with bile ;
in fact, he was obliged to take to bed on arriving at Epernay,
while the rest of the amiable party tried to drown their sorrows

NOTES 227

in champagne. The second day was more fortunate on the
score of health and spirits, but provisions were wanting, and great
were the sufferings of the stomach. The travellers lived on in
the hope of a good supper at Toul, but despair was at its height
when on arriving there they found only a wretched inn, and
nothing in it. We saw some odd-looking folks there, which
indemnified us a little for spinach dressed with lamp-oil, and red
asparagus fried with curdled milk. Who would not have been
amused to see the Malmaison gourmands seated at a table so
shockingly served !

" In no record of history is there to be found a day passed in
distress so dreadful as that on which we arrived at Plombieres.
On departing from Toul we intended to breakfast at Nancy, for
every stomach had been empty for two days, but the civil and
military authorities came out to meet us, and prevented us from
executing our plan. We continued our route, wasting away, so
that you might see us growing thinner every moment. To
complete our misfortune, the dormeuse, which seemed to have
taken a fancy to embark on the Moselle for Metz, barely escaped
an overturn. But at Plombieres we have been well compensated
for this unlucky journey, for on our arrival we were received
with all kinds of rejoicings. The town was illuminated, the
cannon fired, and the faces of handsome women at all the windows
gave us reason to hope that we shall bear our absence from
Malmaison with the less regret.

" With the exception of some anecdotes, which we reserve
for chit-chat on our return, you have here a correct account of
our journey, which we, the undersigned, hereby certify.

" JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE.
BEAUHARNAIS LAVALETTE.
HORTENSE BEAUHARNAIS.
RAPP.
BONAPARTE, MERE.

" The company ask pardon for the blots."

"21 Messidor (July 10).

" It is requested that the person who receives this journal will
show it to all who take an interest in the fair travellers,"

228 NOTES

At this time Hortense was madly in love with Napoleon's
favourite general, Duroc, who, however, loved his master more,
and preferred not to interfere with his projects, especially as a
marriage with Hortense would mean separation from Napoleon.
Hortense and Bourrienne were both excellent billiard players, and
the latter used this opportunity to carry letters from Hortense to
her lukewarm lover.

Afalmaisoriy without you, is toe dreary. Although Madame la
Grassini had been specially summoned to sing at the Fete de la
Concorde the day before.

No. 2.

This is the third pilgrimage Josephine has made, under the
doctor's orders, to Plombieres ; but the longed-for heir will have
to be sought for elsewhere, by fair means or foul. Lucien, who
as Spanish Ambassador had vainly spent the previous year in
arranging the divorce and remarriage of Napoleon to a daughter
of the King of Spain, suggests adultery at Plombieres, or a
" warming-pan conspiracy," as the last alternatives. 1 Josephine
complains to Napoleon of his brother's "poisonous" sugges-
tions, and Lucien is again disgraced. In a few months an
heir is found in Hortense's first-born, Napoleon Charles, born
October 10.

The fat Eugene had come partly to be near his sister in her
mother's absence, and partly to receive his colonelcy. Josephine
is wretched to be absent, and writes to Hortense (June 1 6) : " I
am utterly wretched, my dear Hortense, to be separated from
you, and my mind is as sick as my body. I feel that I was not
born, my dear child, for so much grandeur. . . . By now
Eugene should be with you ; that thought consoles me." Aubenas
has found in the Tascher archives a charming letter from

1 Lucien declares that Napoleon said to his wife, in his presence and that of
Joseph, " Imit?te Livia, and you will find me Augustus." (Jung, vol. ii. 206.)
Lucien evidently suspects an occult sinister allusion here, but Napoleon is only
alluding to the succession devolving on the first child of their joint families.
Lucien refused Hortense, but Louis was more amenable to his brother's wishes.
On her triumphal entry into Muhlberg (November 1805), the Empress reads on
a column a hundred feet high " Josephinae, Galliarum Augustae."

NOTES 229

Josephine to her mother in Martinique, announcing how soon
she may hope to find herself a great-grandmother.

No. 3.

Tour letter has come. Possibly the one to Hortense quoted
above, as Josephine was not fond of writing many letters.

Injured whilst shooting a boar. Constant was not aware of
this occurrence, and was therefore somewhat incredulous of Las
Cases (vol. i. 289). The account in the " Memorial of St.
Helena " is as follows : " Another time, while hunting the
wild boar at Marly, all his suite were put to flight ; it was like
the rout of an army. The Emperor, with Soult and Berthier, 1
maintained their ground against three enormous boars. * We
killed all three, but I received a hurt from my adversary, and
nearly lost this finger,' said the Emperor, pointing to the third
finger of his left hand, which indeed bore the mark of a severe
wound. c But the most laughable circumstance of all was to see
the multitude of men, surrounded by their dogs, screening them-
selves behind the three heroes, and calling out lustily " Save the
Emperor ! 2 save the Emperor ! " while not one advanced to my
assistance'" (vol. ii. 202. Colburn, 1836).

" The Barber of Seville." This was their best piece, and
spectators (except Lucien) agree that in it the little theatre at
Malmaison and its actors were unsurpassed in Paris. Bourrienne
as Bartholo, Hortense as Rosina, carried off the palm. According
to the Duchesse d'Abrantes, Wednesday was the usual day of
representation, when the First Consul was wont to ask forty
persons to dinner, and a hundred and fifty for the evening. As
the Duchess had reason to know, Bonaparte was the severest of
critics. "Lauriston made a noble lover," says the Duchess
" rather heavy "" being Bourrienne's more professional comment.
Eugene, says Meneval, excelled in footman's parts.* Michot,
from the Theatre Francais, was stage manager ; and Bonaparte

1 Made Grand Huntsman in

1 An anachronism ; he was at this time First Consul.

* An euphuistic way of saying he could not learn longer ones. In war time
Napoleon had to insist on Eugene keeping his letters with him and constantly
re-reading them.

230 NOTES

provided what Constant has called "the Malmaison Troupe,"
with their dresses and a collection of dramas. He was always
spurring them on to more ambitious flights, and by complimenting
Bourrienne on his prodigious memory, would stimulate him to
learn the longest parts. Lucien, who refused to act, declares
that Bonaparte quoted the saying of Louis XVI. concerning
Marie Antoinette and her company, that the performances " were
royally badly played." Junot, however, even in these days
played the part of a drunkard only too well (Jung, vol. ii. 256).

No. 4.

The Sevres Manufactory. After his visit, he wrote Duroc :
" This morning I gave, in the form of gratuity, a week's wages
to the workmen of the Sevres manufactory. Have the amount
given to the director. It should not exceed a thousand ecus."

No. 5.

Your lover ^ who is tired of being alone. So much so that he got
up at five o'clock in the morning to read his letters in a young
bride's bed-chamber. The story is brightly told by the lady in
question, Madame d'Abrantes (vol. ii. ch. 19). A few days before
the Marly hunt, mentioned in No. 3, the young wife of seven-
teen, whom Bonaparte had known from infancy, and whose
mother (Madame Permon) he had wished to marry, found the
First Consul seated by her bedside with a thick packet of letters,
which he was carefully opening and making marginal notes upon.
At six he went off singing, pinching the lady's foot through the
bed-clothes as he went. The next day the same thing happened,
and the third day she locked herself in, and prevented her maid
from finding the key. In vain the unwelcome visitor fetched a
master-key. As a last resource, she wheedled her husband,
General Junot, into breaking orders and spending the night with
her ; and the next day (June 22) Bonaparte came in to proclaim
the hunting morning, but by her side found his old comrade of
Toulon, fast asleep. The latter dreamily but good-humouredly
asked, " Why, General, what are you doing in a lady's chamber

NOTES 231

at this hour ? " and the former replied, " I came to awake
Madame Junot for the chase, but I find her provided with an
alarum still earlier than myself. I might scold, for you are
contraband here, M. Junot." He then withdrew, after offering
Junot a horse for the hunt. The husband jumped up, exclaim-
ing, " Faith ! that is an amiable man ! What goodness ! Instead
of scolding, instead of sending me sneaking back to my duty in
Paris! Confess, my Laura, that he is not only an admirable
being, but above the sphere of human nature." Laura, however,
was still dubious. Later in the day she was taken to task by the
First Consul, who was astounded when she told him that his
action might compromise her. " I shall never forget," she says,
" Napoleon's expression of countenance at this moment ; it dis-
played a rapid succession of emotions, none of them evil."
Josephine heard of the affair, and was jealous for some little time
to come.

General Ney. Bonaparte had instructed Josephine to find
him a nice wife, and she had chosen Mile. Aglae-Louise Augui,
the intimate friend and schoolfellow of Hortense, and daughter
of a former Receveur-General des Finances. To the latter Ney
goes fortified with a charming letter from Josephine, dated May
30 the month which the Encyclopaedia Britannica has erroneously
given for that of the marriage, which seems to have taken place
at the end of July (Biographie Universelle^ Michaud, vol. xxx.).
Napoleon (who stood godfather to all the children of his generals)
and Hortense were sponsors for the firstborn of this union,
Napoleon Joseph, born May 8, 1803. The Duchess d'Abrantes
describes her first meeting with Madame Ney at the Boulogne
fete of August 15, 1802. Her simplicity and timidity "were the
more attractive inasmuch as they formed a contrast to most of the
ladies by whom she was surrounded at the court of France. . . .
The softness and benevolence of Madame Ney's smile, together
with the intelligent expression of her large dark eyes, rendered
her a very beautiful woman, and her lively manners and accom-
plishments enhanced her personal graces" (vol. iii. 31). The
brave way in which she bore her husband's execution won the
admiration of Napoleon, who at St. Helena coupled her with
Mdme. de Lavalette and Mdme. Labedoyere.

2 3 2 NOTES

SERIES E

No. i.

Madame. Napoleon became Emperor on May i8th, and
this was the first letter to his wife since Imperial etiquette had
become de rigueur, and the first letter to Josephine signed Napoleon.
Meneval gives a somewhat amusing description of the fine grada-
tions of instructions he received on this head from his master.
This would seem to be a reason for this uncommon form of
salutation ; but, per contra, Las Cases (vol. i. 276) mentions some
so-called letters beginning Madame et chere tpouse y which Napoleon
declares to be spurious.

Pont de Briquet, a little village about a mile from Boulogne.
On his first visit to the latter he was met by a deputation of
farmers, of whom one read out the following address : " General,
here we are, twenty farmers, and we offer you a score of big,
sturdy lads, who are, and always shall be, at your service. Take
them along with you, General ; they will help you to give
England a good thrashing. As for ourselves, we have another
duty to fulfil : with our arms we will till the ground, so that
bread be not wanting to the brave fellows who are destined to
destroy the English." Napoleon thanked the honest yeomen,
and determined to make the only habitable dwelling there his
headquarters. The place is called from the foundations of bricks
found there the remains of one of Caesar's camps.

The wind having considerably freshened. Constant tells a good
story of the Emperor's obstinacy, but also of his bravery, a few
days later. Napoleon had ordered a review of his ships, which
Admiral Bruix had ignored, seeing a storm imminent. Napoleon
sends off Bruix to Holland in disgrace, and orders the review to
take place ; but when, amid the wild storm, he sees " more than
twenty gunboats run aground," and no succour vouchsafed to the
drowning men, he springs into the nearest lifeboat, crying, " We
must save them somehow." A wave breaks over the boat ; he
is drenched and nearly carried overboard, losing the hat he had
worn at Marengo. Such pluck begets enthusiasm ; but, in spite

NOTES 233

of all they could do, two hundred lives were lost. This is
Constant's version ; probably his loss is exaggerated. The
Emperor, writing Talleyrand on August ist, speaks only of three
or four ships lost, and " une quinzaine d'hommes."

No. 2.

The waters. Mile. d'Avrillon describes them and their effect
the sulphur baths giving erysipelas to people in poor health.
Corvisart had accompanied the Empress, to superintend their
effect, which was as usual nil.

All the vexations. Constant (vol. i. 230, &c., 1896) is of
use to explain what these were having obtained possession of a
diary of the tour by one of Josephine's ladies-in-waiting, which
had fallen into Napoleon's hands. In the first place, the roads
(where there were any 1 ) were frightful, especially in the Ardennes
forest, and the diary for August ist concludes by stating "that
some of the carriages were so battered that they had to be bound
together with ropes. One ought not to expect women to travel
about like a lot of dragoons." The writer of the diary, however,
preferred to stay in the carriage, and let Josephine and the rest get
wet feet, thinking the risk she ran the least. Another vexation
to Josephine was the published report of her gift to the Mayoress
of Rheims of a malachite medallion set in brilliants, and of her
saying as she did so, " It is the colour of Hope." Although she
had really used this expression, it was the last thing she would
like to see in print, taking into consideration the reason for her
yearly peregrinations to Plombieres, and now to Aix, and their
invariable inefficiency. Under the date August I4th, the writer
of the diary gives a severe criticism of Josephine. " She is
exactly like a ten-year-old child good-natured, frivolous, im-
pressionable ; in tears at one moment, and comforted the next.
. . . She has just wit enough not to be an utter idiot. Igno-
rant as are most Creoles she has learned nothing, or next
to nothing, except by conversation ; but, having passed her life
in good society, she has got good manners, grace, and a mastery

1 The Emperor had himself planned the Itinerary, and had mistaken a pro-
jected road for a completed one, between Rethel and Marche.

234 NOTES

of that sort of jargon which, in society, sometimes passes for wit.
Social events constitute the canvas which she embroiders, which
she arranges, and which give her a subject for conversation. She
is witty for quite a whole quarter of an hour every day. . . . Her
diffidence is charming . . . her temper very sweet and even ; it is
impossible not to be fond of her. I fear that . . . this need of
unbosoming, of communicating all her thoughts and impressions,
of telling all that passes between herself and the Emperor, keeps
the latter from taking her into his confidence. . . . She told me
this morning that, during all the years she had spent with him,
never once had she seen him let himself go."

Eugene has started for Blois, where he became the head of the
electoral college of Loir et Cher, having just been made Colonel-
General of the Chasseurs by Napoleon. The Beauharnais family
were originally natives of Blois.

No. 3.

Aix-la-Chapette. In this, the first Imperial pilgrimage to take
the waters, great preparations had been made, forty-seven horses
bought at an average cost of 60 apiece ; and eight carriages,
which are not dear at 1000 for the lot, with ^400 additional
for harness and fittings.

At Aix they had fox-hunting and hare-coursing so called, but
probably the final tragedy was consummated with a gun. Lord
Rosebery reminds us that at St. Helena the Emperor actually
shot a cow ! They explored coal mines, and examined all the
local manufactories, including the relics of Charlemagne of
which great warrior and statesman Josephine refused an arm,
as having a still more puissant one ever at hand for her pro-
tection.

When tidings come that the Emperor will arrive on September
2, and prolong their stay from Paris, there is general lamentation
among Josephine's womenkind, especially on the part of that
perennial wet blanket and busybody, Madame de Laroche-
foucauld, who will make herself a still greater nuisance at May-
ence two years later.

NOTES 235

No. 4.

During the past week. As a matter of fact he only reached
Ostend on April I2th from Boulogne, having left Dunkirk on
the nth.

The day after to-morrow. This fete was the distribution of
the Legion of Honour at Boulogne and a review of 80,000 men.
The decorations were enshrined in the helmet of Bertrand du
Guesclin, which in its turn was supported on the shield of the
Chevalier Bayard.

Hortense arrived at Boulogne, with her son, and the Prince
and Princess Murat, a few days later, and saw the Emperor.
Josephine received a letter from Hortense soon after Napoleon
joined her (September 2nd), to which she replied on September
8th. " The Emperor has read your letter ; he has been rather
vexed not to hear from you occasionally. He would not doubt
your kind heart if he knew it as well as I, but appearances are
against you. Since he can think you are neglecting him, lose no
time in repairing the wrongs which are not real," for " Bonaparte
loves you like his own child, which adds much to my affection
for him."

/ am very well satisfied . . . with the flotillas. The descent
upon England was to have taken place in September, when the
death of Admiral Latouche-Treville at Toulon, August igth,
altered all Napoleon's plans. Just about this time also Fulton
submitted his steamship invention to Bonaparte. The latter,
however, had recently been heavily mulcted in other valueless
discoveries, and refers Fulton to the savants of the Institute, who
report it chimerical and impracticable. The fate of England
probably lay in the balance at this moment, more than in 1588
or 1798.

Napoleon and Josephine leave Aix for Cologne on September
12, and it is now the ladies' turn to institute a hunt the "real
chamois hunt " ; for each country inn swarms with this pestilence
that walketh in darkness, and which, alas ! is no respecter of
persons.

236 NOTES

No. 5.

Two points are noteworthy in this letter (i) that like No. I
of this series (see note thereto) it commences Madame and dear
Wife ; and (2) it is signed Bonaparte and not Napoleon, which
somewhat militates against its authenticity.

ArraSy August 2<)th. Early on this day he had been at St.
Cloud. On the 3Oth he writes Cambaceres from Arras that he
is "satisfied with the spirit of this department." On the same
day he writes thence to the King of Prussia and Fouch. To
his Minister of Police he writes : " That detestable journal, Le
Citoyen fran^ais, seems only to wish to wallow in blood. For
eight days running we have been entertained with nothing but
the Saint Bartholomew. Who on earth is the editor (redacteur]
of this paper ? With what gusto this wretch relishes the crimes
and misfortunes of our fathers ! My intention is that you
should put a stop to it. Have the editor (directeur) of this paper
changed, or suppress it." On Friday he is at Mons (writing in-
teresting letters respecting the removal of church ruins), and
reaches his wife on the Sunday (September 2nd) as his letter
foreshadowed.

/ am rather impatient to see you. The past few months had
been an anxious time for Josephine. Talleyrand (who, having
insulted her in 1799, thought her his enemy) was scheming for
her divorce, and wished Napoleon to marry the Princess Wil-
helmina of Baden, and thus cement an alliance with Bavaria and
Russia (Constant, vol. i. 240). The Bonaparte family were very
anxious that Josephine should not be crowned. Napoleon had
too great a contempt for the weaknesses of average human nature
to expect much honesty from Talleyrand. But he was not as
yet case-hardened to ingratitude, and was always highly sensitive
to caricature and hostile criticism. Talleyrand had been the
main cause of the death of the Due d'Enghien, and was now
trying to show that he had wished to prevent it ; but possibly
the crowning offence was contained in a lady's diary, that fell
into the emperor's hands, where Talleyrand is said to have called
his master " a regular little Nero " in his system of espionage.
The diary in question is in Constant's " Memoirs," vol. i., and

NOTES 237

this letter helps to fix the error in the dates, probably caused by
confusion between the Revolutionary and Gregorian Calendars.

No. 6.

T. This may be Talleyrand, whom Mdme. de Remusat in a
letter to her husband (September 2ist) at Aix, hinted to be on
bad terms with the Emperor a fact confirmed and explained by
Mdneval. It may also have been Tallien, who returned to
France in 1802, where he had been divorced from his unfaithful
wife.

B. Doubtlessly Bourrienne, who was in disgrace with
Napoleon, and who was always trying to impose on Josephine's
good nature. No sooner had Napoleon left for Boulogne on July
1 4th than his former secretary inflicts himself on the wife at
Malmaison.

Napoleon joins Josephine at St. Cloud on or before October
1 3th, where preparations are already being made for the Corona-
tion by the Pope the first ceremony of the kind for eight cen-
turies.

SERIES F

No. i.

To Josephine. She was at Plombieres from August 2 to Sep-
tember 10, but no letter is available for the period, neither to
Hortense nor from Napoleon.

Strasburg. She is in the former Episcopal Palace, at the foot
of the cathedral.

Stuttgard. He is driven over from Ludwigsburg on October
4th, and hears the German opera of " Don Juan."

/ am well placed. On the same day Napoleon writes his
brother Joseph that he has already won two great victories
(i) by having no sick or deserters, but many new conscripts;
and (2) because the Badenese army and those of Bavaria and
Wurtemberg had joined him, and all Germany well disposed.

238 NOTES

No. 2.

Louisburg. Ludwigsburg.

In a few days. To Talleyrand he wrote from Strasburg on
September 27 : "Within a fortnight we shall see several things."

A new bride. This letter, in the collection of his Correspond-
ence ordered by Napoleon III., concludes at this point.

E/ectress. The Princess Charlotte- Auguste-Mathilde (1766-
1828), daughter of George III., our Princess Royal, who married
Frederick I. Napoleon says she is " not well treated by the
Elector, to whom, nevertheless, she seems much attached "
(Brotonne, No. in). She was equally pleased with Napoleon,
and wrote home how astonished she was to find him so polite
and agreeable a person.

No. 3.

/ have assisted at a marriage. The bride was the Princess of
Saxe-Hildburghhausen, who was marrying the second son of the
Elector.

No. 5.

Written at Augsburg. On October I5th he reaches the
abbey of Elchingen, which is situated on a height, from whence
a wide view is obtained, and establishes his headquarters there.

No. 6.

Spent the whole of to-day indoors. This is also mentioned in his
Seventh Bulletin (dated the same day), which adds, "But repose
is not compatible with the direction of this immense army."

Vicenza. Massena did not, however, reach this place till
November 3rd. The French editions have Vienna, but Vicenza
is evidently meant.

No. 7.

He is still at Elchingen, but at Augsburg the next day. On
the 2ist he issues a decree to his army that Vend^miaire, 1 of
1 The first month of the Republican calendar.

NOTES 239

which this was the last day but one, should be counted as a
campaign for pensions and military services.

Elchingen. Meneval speaks of this village "rising in an
amphitheatre above the Danube, surrounded by walled gardens,
and houses rising one above the other." From it Napoleon saw
the city of Ulm below, commanded by his cannon. Marshal
Ney won his title of Duke of Elchingen by capturing it on
October I4th, and fully deserved it. The Emperor used to
leave the abbey every morning to go to the camp before Ulm,
where he used to spend the day, and sometimes the night. The
rain was so heavy that, until a plank was found, Napoleon sat in
a tent with his feet in water (Savary, vol. ii. 196).

Such a catastrophe. At Ulm General Mack, with eight field-
marshals, seven lieutenant-generals, and 33,000 men surrender.
Napoleon had despised Mack even in 1800, when he told Bour-
rienne at Malmaison, " Mack is a man of the lowest mediocrity I
ever saw in my life ; he is full of self-sufficiency and conceit, and
believes himself equal to anything. He has no talent. I should
like to see him some day opposed to one of our good generals ;
we should then see fine work. He is a boaster, and that is all.
He is really one of the most silly men existing, and besides all
that, he is unlucky " (vol. i. 304). Napoleon stipulated for
Mack's life in one of the articles of the Treaty of Presburg.

No. 9.

Munich. Napoleon arrived here on October 24th.

Lemarois. A trusty aide-de-camp, who had witnessed Napo-
leon's civil marriage in March 1796, at 10 P.M.

/ was grieved. They had no news from October I2th to
2ist in Paris, where they learnt daily that Strasburg was in the
same predicament. Mdme. de Remusat, at Paris, was equally
anxious, and such women, in the Emperor's absence, tended by
their presence or even by their correspondence to increase the
alarms of Josephine.

Amuse yourself. M. Masson (Josephine, Imperatrice et Reine, p.
424) has an interesting note of how she used to attend lodge at

2 4 o NOTES

the Orient in Strasburg, to preside at a " loge d'adoption sous la
direction de Madame de Dietrich, grand maitresse titulaire."

Talleyrand has come. He was urgently needed to help in the
correspondence with the King of Prussia (concerning the French
violation of his Anspach territory), with whom Napoleon's
relations were becoming more strained.

No. 10.

We are always in forests. Baron Lejeune, with his artist's
eye, describes his impressions of the Amstetten forest as he
travelled through it with Murat the following morning (Novem-
ber 4th). "Those of us who came from the south of Europe
had never before realised how beautiful Nature can be in the
winter. In this particular instance everything was robed in the
most gleaming attire ; the silvery rime softening the rich colours
of the decaying oak leaves, and the sombre vegetation of the
pines. The frozen drapery, combined with the mist, in which
everything was more or less enveloped, gave a soft, mysterious
charm to the surrounding objects, producing a most beautiful
picture. Lit up by the sunshine, thousands of long icicles, such
as those which sometimes droop from our fountains and water-
wheels, hung like shining lustres from the trees. Never did ball-
room shine with so many diamonds ; the long branches of the
oaks, pines, and other forest trees were weighed down by the
masses of hoar-frost, while the snow converted their summits
into rounded roofs, forming beneath them grottoes resembling
those of the Pyrenean mountains, with their shining . .alactites
and graceful columns " (vol. i. 24).

My enemies. Later in the day Napoleon writes from Lam-
bach to the Emperor of Austria a pacific letter, which contains
the paragraph, u My ambition is wholly concentrated on the re-
establishment of my commerce and of my marine, and England
grievously opposes itself to both."

No. ii.

Written from Lintz, the capital of Upper Austria, where
Napoleon was on the 4th.

NOTES

No. 12.

Napoleon took up his abode at the palace of Schoenbrunn on
the 1 4th, and proves his " two-o^clock-in-the-morning courage "
by passing through Vienna at that time the following morning.

No. 13.

They owe eveything to you. Aubenas quotes this, and remarks
(vol. ii. 326) : " No one had pride in France more than Napo-
leon, stronger even than his conviction of her superiority in the
presence of other contemporary sovereigns and courts. He
wishes that in Germany, where she will meet families with all
the pride and sometimes all the haughtiness of their ancestry,
Josephine will not forget that she is Empress of the French,
superior to those who are about to receive her, and who owe full
respect and homage to her."

No. 14.

Austerlitz. Never was a victory more needful ; but never
was the Emperor more confident. Savary says that it would
take a volume to contain all that emanated from his mind during
that twenty-four hours (December 1-2). Nor was it confined
to military considerations. General Segur describes how he spent
his evening meal with his marshals, discussing with Junot the
last new tragedy (Les Templiers, by Raynouard), and from it to
Racine, Corneille, and the fatalism of our ancestors.

December 2nd was a veritable Black Monday for the Coalition
in general, and for Russia in particular, where Monday is always
looked upon as an unlucky day. Their forebodings increased
when, on the eve of the battle, the Emperor Alexander was
thrown from his horse (Czartoriski, vol. ii. 106).

No. 17.

A long time since I had news of you. Josephine was always a
bad correspondent, but at this juncture was reading that stilted
but sensational romance " Caleb Williams ; " or hearing the

Q

NOTES

"Achilles" of Paer, or the "Romeo and Juliet " of Zingarelli in the
intervals of her imperial progress through Germany. M. Masson,
not often too indulgent to Josephine, thinks her conduct excusable
at this period paying and receiving visits, dressing and redressing,
always in gala costume, and without a moment's solitude.

No. 19.

/ await events. A phrase usually attributed to Talleyrand in
1815. However, the Treaty of Presburg was soon signed (De-
cember 2nd), and the same day Napoleon met the Archduke
Charles at Stamersdorf, a meeting arranged from mutual esteem.
Napoleon had an unswerving admiration for this past and future
foe, and said to Madame d'Abrantes, " That man has a soul, a
golden heart." * Napoleon, however, did not wish to discuss
politics, and only arranged for an interview of two hours, " one
of which," he wrote Talleyrand, " will be employed in dining,
the other in talking war and in mutual protestations."

/, for my party am sufficiently busy. No part of Napoleon's
career is more wonderful than the way in which he conducts the
affairs of France and of Europe from a hostile capital. This was
his first experience of the kind, and perhaps the easiest, although
Prussian diplomacy had needed very delicate and astute handling.
But when Napoleon determined, without even consulting his wife,
to cement political alliances by matrimonial ones with his and her
relatives, he was treading on somewhat new and difficult ground.
First and foremost, he wanted a princess for his ideal young man,
Josephine's son Eugene, and he preferred Auguste, the daughter
of the King of Bavaria, to the offered Austrian Archduchess. But
the young Hereditary Prince of Baden was in love and accepted
by his beautiful cousin Auguste ; so, to compensate him for his
loss, the handsome and vivacious Stephanie Beauharnais, fresh
from Madame Campan's finishing touches, was sent for. For
his brother Jerome a bride is found by Napoleon in the daughter
of the King of Wurtemberg. Baden, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg
were too much indebted to France for the spoils they were get-
ting from Austria to object, provided the ladies and their mammas

1 Memoirs, vol. ii. 165.

NOTES 243

were agreeable ; but the conqueror of Austerlitz found this part
the most difficult, and had to be so attentive to the Queen of
Bavaria that Josephine was jealous. However, all the matches
came off, and still more remarkable, all turned out happily, a fact
which certainly redounds to Napoleon's credit as a match-maker.
On December 3ist, at 1.45 A.M., he entered Munich by
torchlight and under a triumphal arch. His chamberlain, M. de
Thiard, assured him that if he left Munich the marriage with
Eugene would fall through, and he agrees to stay, although he
declared that his absence, which accentuated the Bank crisis, is
costing him 1,500,000 francs a day. The marriage took place
on January I4th, four days after Eugene arrived at Munich and
three days after that young Bayard had been bereft of his cherished
moustache. Henceforth the bridegroom is called " Mon fils " in
Napoleon's correspondence, and in the contract of marriage
Napoleon-Eugene de France. The Emperor and Empress
reached the Tuileries on January 2yth. The marriage of
Stephanie was even more difficult to manage, for, as St. Amand
points out, the Prince of Baden had for brothers-in-law the
Emperor of Russia, the King of Sweden, and the King of Bavaria
two of whom at least were friends of England. Josephine
had once an uncle-in-law, the Count Beauharnais, whose wife
Fanny was a well-known literary character of the time, but ot
whom the poet Lebrun made the epigram

" Elle fait son visage, et ne fait pas ses vers."

Stephanie was the grand-daughter of this couple, and as Grand-
Duchess of Baden was beloved and respected, and lived on until
1860.

SERIES G

No. i.

Napoleon left St. Cloud with Josephine on September 25th,
and had reached Mayence on the a8th, where his Foot Guard were
awaiting him. He left Mayence on October ist, and reached

244 NOTES

Wurzburg the next day, whence this letter was written, just
before starting for Bamberg. Josephine was installed in the
Teutonic palace at Mayence.

Princess of Baden, Stephanie Beauharnais. (For her marriage,
see note, end of Series F.)

Hortense was by no means happy with her husband at the
best of times, and she cordially hated Holland. She was said to
be very frightened of Napoleon, but (like most people) could
easily influence her mother. Napoleon's letter to her of this
date (October 5th) is certainly not a severe one : "I have re-
ceived yours of September I4th. I am sending to the Chief
Justice in order to accord pardon to the individual in whom you
are interested. Your news always gives me pleasure. I trust
you will keep well, and never doubt my great friendship for
you."

The Grand Duke^ i.e. of Wurzburg. The castle where
Napoleon was staying seemed to him sufficiently strong to be
armed and provisioned, and he made a great depot in the city.
" Volumes," says Meneval, " would not suffice to describe the
multitude of his military and administrative measures here, and
the precautions which he took against even the most improbable
hazards of war."

Florence. Probably September 1796, when Napoleon was
hard pressed, and Josephine had to fetch a compass from Verona
to regain Milan, and thus evade Wurmser's troops.

No. 2.

Bamberg. Arriving at Bamberg on the 6th, Napoleon issued
a proclamation to his army which concluded " Let the Prussian
army experience the same fate that it experienced fourteen years
ago. Let it learn that, if it is easy to acquire increase of territory
and power by means of the friendship of the great people, their
enmity, which can be provoked only by the abandonment of all
spirit of wisdom and sense, is more terrible than the tempests of
the ocean."

Eugene. Napoleon wrote him on the 5th, and twice on the

NOTES 245

yth, on which date we have eighteen letters in the Correspon-
dence.

Her husband. The Hereditary Grand Duke of Baden, to
whom Napoleon had written from Mayence on September 3Oth,
accepting his services, and fixing the rendezvous at Bamberg for
October 4th or 5th.

On this day Napoleon invaded Prussian territory by entering
Bayreuth, having preceded by one day the date of their ulti-
matum a rhapsody of twenty pages, which Napoleon in his
First Bulletin compares to "one of those which the English
Cabinet pay their literary men 500 per annum to write." It is
in this Bulletin where he describes the Queen of Prussia (dressed
as an Amazon, in the uniform of her regiment of dragoons, and
writing twenty letters a day) to be like Armida in her frenzy,
setting fire to her own palace.

No. 3.

By this time the Prussian army is already in a tight corner,
with its back on the Rhine, which, as Napoleon says in his Third
Bulletin written on this day, is " assez bizarre, from which very
important events should ensue." On the previous day he con-
cludes a letter to Talleyrand " One cannot conceive how the
Duke of Brunswick, to whom one allows some talent, can direct
the operations of this army in so ridiculous a manner."

Erfurt. Here endless discussions, but, as Napoleon says in
his bulletin of this day " Consternation is at Erfurt, . . . but
while they deliberate, the French army is marching. . . . Still
the wishes of the King of Prussia have been executed ; he wished
that by October 8th the French army should have evacuated the
territory of the Confederation which has been evacuated, but in
place of repassing the Rhine, it has passed the Saal."

If she wants to see a battle. Queen Louise, great-grandmother
of the present Emperor William, and in 1806 aged thirty. St.
Amand says that " when she rode on horseback before her troops,
with her helmet of polished steel, shaded by a plume, her gleaming
golden cuirass, her tunic of cloth of silver, her red buskins with
golden spurs," she resembled, as the bulletin said, one of the

246 NOTES

heroines of Tasso. She hated France, and especially Napoleon,
as the child of the French Revolution.

No. 4.

/ nearly captured him and the Queen. They escaped only by
an hour, Napoleon writes Berthier. Blucher aided their escape
by telling a French General about an imaginary armistice, which
the latter was severely reprimanded by Napoleon for believing.

No battle was more beautifully worked out than the battle of
Jena Davoust performing specially well his move in the combi-
nations by which the Prussian army was hopelessly entangled, as
Mack at Ulm a year before. Bernadotte alone, and as usual,
gave cause for dissatisfaction. He had a personal hatred for his
chief, caused by the knowledge that his wife (Desiree Clary) had
never ceased to regret that she had missed her opportunity of
being the wife of Napoleon. Bernadotte, therefore, was loth
to give initial impetus to the victories of the French Emperor,
though, when success was no longer doubtful, he would prove
that it was not want of capacity but want of will that had kept
him back. He was the Talleyrand of the camp, and had an
equal aptitude for fishing in troubled waters.

/ have bivouacked. Whether the issue of a battle was decisive,
or, as at Eylau, only partially so, Napoleon never shunned the
disagreeable part of battle the tending of the wounded and the
burial of the dead. Savary tells us that at Jena, as at Austerlitz,
the Emperor rode round the field of battle, alighting from his
horse with a little brandy flask (constantly refilled), putting his
hand to each unconscious soldier's breast, and when he found
unexpected life, giving way to a joy "impossible to describe"
(vol. ii. 184). Mneval also speaks of his performing this
" pious duty, in the fulfilment of which nothing was allowed to
stand in his way."

No. 5.

Fatigues, bivouacs . . . have made me fat. The Austerlitz
campaign had the same effect. See a remarkable letter to Count
Miot de Melito on January 30th, 1806 : "The campaign I have

NOTES 247

just terminated, the movement, the excitement have made me
stout. I believe that if all the kings of Europe were to coalesce
against me I should have a ridiculous paunch." And it was so !

The great M. Napoleon, aged four, and the younger, aged two,
are with Hortense and their grandmother at Mayence, where a
Court had assembled, including most of the wives of Napoleon's
generals, burning for news. A look-out had been placed by the
Empress some two miles on the main-road beyond Mayence,
whence sight of a courier was signalled in advance.

No. 7.

Potsdam. As a reward for Auerstadt, Napoleon orders
Davoust and his famous Third Corps to be the first to enter
Berlin the following day.

No. 8.

Written from Berlin, where he is from October 28th to
November 25th.

You do nothing but cry. Josephine spent her evenings gauging
futurity with a card-pack, and although it announced Jena and
Auerstadt before the messenger, it may possibly, thinks M.
Masson, have been less propitious for the future and behind all
was the sinister portion of the spae-wife's prophecy still un-
fulfilled.

No. QA.

Madame Tallien had been in her time, especially in the years
1795-99, one of the most beautiful and witty women in France.
Madame d'Abrantes calls her the Venus of the Capitol ; and
Lucien Bonaparte speaks of the court of the voluptuous Director,
Barras, where the beautiful Tallien was the veritable Calypso.
The people, however, could not forget her second husband,
Tallien, from whom she was divorced in 1802 (having had three
children born while he was in Egypt, 1798-1802); and whilst
they called Josephine " Notre Dame des Victoires," they called
Madame Tallien " Notre Dame de Septembre,"

248 NOTES

The latter was, however, celebrated both for her beauty and
her intrigues; 1 and when, in 1799, Bonaparte seized supreme
power the fair lady' 2 invaded Barras in his bath to inform him of
it ; but found her indolent Ulysses only capable of ejaculating,
" What can be done ? that man has taken us all in ! " Napoleon
probably remembered this, and may refer to her rather than to
the Queen of Prussia in the next letter, where he makes severe
strictures on intriguing women. Moreover, Napoleon in his
early campaigns had played a ridiculous part in some of Gillray's
most indecent cartoons, where Mmes. Tallien and Josephine took
with Barras the leading roles ; and as Madame Tallien was not
considered respectable in 1796, she was hardly a fit friend for the
Empress of the French ten years later. In the interval this lady,
divorced a second time, had married the Prince de Chimay
(Caraman). Napoleon knew also that she had been the mistress
of Ouvrard, the banker, who in his Spanish speculations a few
months earlier had involved the Bank of France to the tune of
four millions sterling, and forced Napoleon to make a premature
peace after Austerlitz. The Emperor had returned at white
heat to Paris, and wished he could build a gallows for Ouvrard
high enough for him to be on view throughout France. Madame
Tallien's own father, M. de Cabarrus, was a French banker in
Spain, and probably in close relation with Ouvrard.

No. 10.

Written from Berlin.

The bad things I say about women. Napoleon looked upon
this as a woman's war, and his temper occasionally gets the
mastery of him. No war had ever been so distasteful to him or
so personal. Prussia, whose alliance he had been courting for
nearly ten years, was now worthless to him, and all because of
petticoat government at Berlin. In the Fifteenth Bulletin (dated

1 Bouillet, Dictionnaire Universelle, &c.

2 "The Queen of that Court was the fair Madame Tallien. All that
imagination can conceive will scarcely approach the reality ; beautiful after the
antique fashion, she had at once grace and dignity ; without being endowed
with a superior wit, she possessed the art of making the best of it, and won
people's hearts by her great kindness." Memoirs of Marmont, vol. i. 5 p. 887.

NOTES 249

Wittenburg, October 23rd) he states that the Queen had accused
her husband of cowardice in order to bring about the war. But it
is doubtless the Sixteenth Bulletin (dated Potsdam, October 25th)
to which Josephine refers, and which refers to the oath of alliance
of the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia in the death
chamber of Frederick the Great. " It is from this moment that
the Queen quitted the care of her domestic concerns and the
serious occupations of the toilet in order to meddle with the
affairs of State." He refers to a Berlin caricature of the scene
which was at the time in all the shops, " exciting even the
laughter of clodhoppers." The handsome Emperor of Russia
was portrayed, by his side the Queen, and on his other side the
King of Prussia with his hand raised above the tomb of the Great
Frederick ; the Queen herself, draped in a shawl nearly as the
London engravings represent Lady Hamilton, pressing her hand
on her heart, and apparently gazing upon the Emperor of Russia."
In the Eighteenth Bulletin (October 26th) it is said the Prussian
people did not want war, that a handful of women and young
officers had alone made this " tapage," and that the Queen, " for-
merly a timid and modest woman looking after her domestic
concerns," had become turbulent and warlike, and had "con-
ducted the monarchy within a few days to the brink of the
precipice."

As the Queen of Prussia was a beautiful woman, she has had
nearly as many partisans as Mary Stuart or Marie Antoinette,
but with far less cause. Napoleon, who was the incarnation of
practical common sense, saw in her the first cause of the war, and
considered that so far as verbal flagellation could punish her, she
should have it. He had neither time nor sympathy for the
" Please you, do not hurt us " attitude of a bellicose new woman,
who, as Imogen or Ida, have played with edged tools from the
time of Shakespeare to that of Sullivan.

As an antidote, however, to his severe words against women
he put, perhaps somewhat ostentatiously, the Princess d'Hatzfeld
episode in his Twenty-second Bulletin (Berlin, October 29th). A
year later (November 26th, 1807), when his Old Guard return to
Paris and free performances are given at all the theatres, there is
the " Triumph of Trajan " at the Opera, where Trajan, burning

2 5 o NOTES

with his own hand the papers enclosing the secrets of a conspi-
racy, is a somewhat skilful allusion to the present episode.

No. n.

Magdeburg had surrendered on November 8th, with 20 gene-
rals, 800 officers and 22,000 men, 800 pieces of cannon, and
immense stores.

Lubeck. This capitulation was that of Blucher, who had
escaped after Jena through a rather dishonourable ruse. It had
taken three army corps to hem him in.

No. 13.

Written from Berlin, but not included in the Correspondence.

Madame L , i.e. Madame de la Rochefoucauld, a third or

fourth cousin (by her first marriage) of Josephine, and her chief
lady of honour. She was an incorrigible Royalist, and hated
Napoleon ; but as she had been useful at the Tuileries in estab-
lishing the Court, Napoleon, as usual, could not make up his mind
to cause her dismissal. In 1806, however, she made Josephine
miserable and Mayence unbearable. She foretold that the Prus-
sians would win every battle, and even after Jena she (to use an
expression of M. Masson), " continued her music on the sly " (en
sourdine}. See Letters 19 and 26 of this Series.

No. 17.

December 2, the anniversary of Austerlitz (1805) and of
Napoleon's coronation (1804). He now announces to his soldiers
the Polish campaign.

No. 1 8.

Not in the Correspondence.

Jealousy. If Josephine's letters and conduct had been a little
more worthy of her position, she might have saved herself.
Madame Walewski, who had not yet appeared on the scene.

NOTES 251

No. 19.

Desir de femme est un feu qui devore. The quotation is given
in Jung's " Memoirs of Lucien " (vol. ii. 62). " Ce qu'une
femme desire est un feu qui consume, celui d'une reine un vulcane
qui devore."

No. 23.

/ am dependent on events. He says the same at St. Helena.
" Throughout my whole reign I was the keystone of an edifice
entirely new, and resting on the most slender foundations. Its
duration depended on the issue of my battles. I was never, in
truth, master of my own movements ; I was never at my own
disposal."

No. 26.

The fair ones of Great Poland. If Berthier and other regular
correspondents of Josephine were like Savary in their enthusiasm,
no wonder the Mayence coterie began to stir up jealousy. Here
is the description of the Duke of Rovigo (vol. ii. 17) : "The stay
at Warsaw had for us something of witchery ; even with regard
to amusements it was practically the same life as at Paris : the
Emperor had his concert twice a week, at the end of which he held
a reception, where many of the leading people met. A great
number of ladies from the best families were admired alike for the
brilliancy of their beauty, and for their wonderful amiability. One
may rightly say that the Polish ladies inspired with jealousy the
charming women of every other civilised clime. They united, for
the most part, to the manners of good society a fund of informa-
tion which is not commonly found even among Frenchwomen,
and is very far above anything we see in towns, where the custom
of meeting in public has become a necessity. It seemed to us that
the Polish ladies, compelled to spend the greater part of the year
in their country-houses, applied themselves there to reading as
well as to the cultivation of their talents, and it was thus that in
the chief towns, where they went to pass the winter, they ap-
peared successful over all their rivals." St. Amand says : " In
the intoxication of their enthusiasm and admiration, the most
beautiful among them and Poland is the country of beauty

2 5 2 NOTES

lavished on him, like sirens, their most seducing smiles." . . .
Josephine was right to be jealous, for, as the artist Baron Lejeune
adds, " They were, moreover, as graceful as the Creole women so
often are."

A wretched barn, reached over still more wretched roads.
The Emperor and his horse had nearly been lost in the mud, and
Marshal Duroc had a shoulder put out by his carriage being upset.

Such things become common property. So was another event,
much to Josephine's chagrin. On this date Napoleon heard of a
son (Lon) born to him by Eleanore, a former schoolfellow of
Madame Murat. M. Masson thinks this event epoch-making in
the life of Napoleon. " Henceforth the charm is broken, and the
Emperor assured of having an heir of his own blood."

No. 27.

Warsaw^ January 3. On his way from Pultusk on January I,
he had received a Polish ovation at Bronie, where he first met
Madame Walewski. The whole story is well told by M. Masson
in Napoleon et les Femmes ; but here we must content ourselves
with the mere facts, and first, for the sake of comparison, cite his
love-letters to the lady in question : (i.) " I have seen only you,
I have admired only you, I desire only you. A very prompt
answer to calm the impatient ardour of N." (2.) u Have I dis-
pleased you ? I have still the right to hope the contrary. Have
I been mistaken ? Your eagerness diminishes, while mine aug-
ments. You take away my rest ! Oh, give a little joy, a little
happiness to a poor heart all ready to worship you. Is it so
difficult to get a reply ? You owe me one. N." (3.) "There
are moments when too high rank is a burden, and that is what I
feel. How can I satisfy the needs of a heart hopelessly in love,
which would fling itself at your feet, and which finds itself stopped
by the weight of lofty considerations paralysing the most lively
desires ? Oh, if you would ! Only you could remove the
obstacles that lie between us. My friend Duroc will clear the
way. Oh, come ! come ! All your wishes shall be gratified.
Your native land will be dearer to me when you have had pity
on my poor heart. N." (4.) " Marie, my sweet Marie ! My

NOTES 253

first thought is for you, my first desire to see you again. You
will come again, will you not ? You promised me to do so. If
not, the eagle will fly to you. I shall see you at dinner, a friend
tells me. Deign, then, to accept this bouquet ; let it become a
mysterious link which shall establish between us a secret union in
the midst of the crowd surrounding us. Exposed to the glances
of the crowd, we shall still understand each other. When my
hand presses my heart, you will know that it is full of thoughts
of you ; and in answer you will press closer your bouquet. Love
me, my bonny Marie, and never let your hand leave your bou-
quet. N." In this letter, in which he has substituted tu for
vow, there is more passion than we have seen since 1796. The
fair lady now leaves her decrepit old husband, nearly fifty years
her senior, and takes up her abode in Finckenstein Castle, for
nearly two months of the interval between Eylau and Friedland.
" In order," says Pasquier, " that nothing should be lacking to
characterise the calm state of his mind and the security of his
position, it was soon known that he had seen fit to enjoy a
pleasurable relaxation by calling to him a Polish gentlewoman of
excellent birth, with whom he had contracted a liaison while
passing through Warsaw, and who, as a consequence of this
journey, had the honour of bearing him a son." Repudiated by
her husband, she came to Paris, where she was very kindly treated
by Josephine, who, having once seen her, found in her no rival,
but an enthusiastic patriot, "sacrificed to Plutus," as Napoleon
told Lucien at Mantua a few months later, adding that " her soul
was as beautiful as her face."

No. 28.

Be cheerful gal. This adjective is a favourite one in letters
to his wife, and dates from 1796.

No. 29.

Roads unsafe and detestable. The French troops used to say
that the four following words constituted the whole language of
the Poles : Kleba ? Niema. Vota ? Sara. (" Some bread ?
There is none. Some water ? We will go and fetch it.' 1 )

254 NOTES

Napoleon one day passed by a column of infantry suffering the
greatest privations on account of the mud, which prevented the
arrival of provisions. " Papa, kleba ? " exclaimed a soldier.
" Niema," replied the Emperor. The whole column burst into
a fit of laughter ; they asked for nothing more. Baron Lejeune,
Constant, and Meneval have variants of the same story.

No. 35.

Written from Warsaw, and omitted from the Correspondence.

I hope that you are at Paris. Madame Junot hints that her
husband, as Governor of Paris, was being sounded by Bonaparte's
sister, Murat's wife (with whom Junot was in love), if he would
make Murat Napoleon's successor, in lieu of Eugene, if the
Emperor were killed. If Napoleon had an inkling of this, he
would wish Josephine to be on the spot.

T. Is probably Tallien, who had misconducted himself in
Egypt. Madame Junot met him at Madrid, but she and others
had not forgotten the September massacres. " The wretch ! how
did he drag on his loathsome existence ? " she exclaims.

No. 36.

Paris. Josephine arrived here January 3ist; Queen Hortense
going to the Hague and the Princess Stephanie to Mannheim.

No. 38.

Probably written from Arensdorf, on the eve of the battle of
Eylau (February 9th), on which day a great ball took place in
Paris, given by the Minister of Marine.

No. 39.

Eylau. The battle of Preussich-Eylau was splendidly fought
on both sides, but the Russian general, Beningsen, had all the luck.
(i) His Cossacks capture Napoleon's letter to Bernadotte, which
enables him to escape all Napoleon's plans, which otherwise would
have destroyed half the Russian army. (2) A snowstorm in
the middle of the day in the faces of the French ruins Augereau's

NOTES 255

corps and saves the Russians from a total rout. (3) The arrival
of a Prussian army corps, under General Lestocq, robbed Davoust
of his glorious victory on the right, and much of the ground
gained including the village of Kuschnitten. (4) The night
came on just in time to save the rest of the Russian army, and
to prevent Ney taking any decisive part in the battle. Berna-
dotte, as usual, failed to march to the sound of the guns, but, as
Napoleon's orders to do so were captured by Cossacks, he might
have had an excuse rather better than usual, had not General
Hautpoult, 1 in touch both with him and Napoleon, advised him
of his own orders and an imminent battle. Under such circum-
stances, no general save the Prince of Ponte-Corvo, says Bignon,
would have remained inactive, " but it was the destiny of this
marshal to have a role apart in all the great battles fought by the
Emperor. His conduct was at least strange at Jena, it will not
be less so, in 1809, at Wagram." The forces, according to
Matthieu Dumas (Precis des Evenements Militaires, volume 1 8),
were approximately 65,000 French against 80,000 allies 2 the
latter in a strong chosen position. Napoleon saved 1500, the
wreckage of Augereau's 3 corps, that went astray in the blizzard
(costing the French more than half their loss in the two days'
fight), by a charge of his Horse Guard, but his Foot Guard never
fired a shot. The allies lost 5000 to 6000 dead and 20,000
wounded. Napoleon told Montholon that his loss at Eylau was
18,000, which probably included 2000 dead, and 15,000 to
16,000 wounded and prisoners. As the French remained masters
of the field of battle, the slightly wounded were evidently not
counted by Napoleon, who in his bulletin gives 1900 dead and
5700 wounded. The list of wounded inmates of the hospital a
month later, March 8th, totalled only 4600, which astonished
Napoleon, who sent back for a recount. On receipt of this he

1 This brave general was mortally wounded in the cavalry charge which saved
the battle, and the friends of Bernadotte assert that the message was never given
an assertion more credible if the future king's record had been better on other
occasions.

2 Alison says 75,000 allies, 85,000 French, but admits allies had 100 more
cannon.

3 Augereau, says Meneval, went out of his mind during this battle, and had to
be sent back to France.

256 NOTES

wrote Daru (March 15): " From your advices to hand, I see we
are not far out of count. There were at the battle of Eylau
4000 or 5000 wounded, and 1000 in the combats preceding the
battle."

No. 40.

Corbineau. Mile. d'Avrillon (vol. ii. 101) tells how, in haste
to join his regiment at Paris, Corbineau had asked for a seat in
her carriage from St. Cloud. She was delighted, as he was a
charming man, " with no side on like Lauriston and Lemarois."
He had just been made general, and said, " Either I will get
killed or deserve the favour which the Emperor has granted me.
M'selle, you shall hear me spoken of; if I am not killed I will
perform some startling deed."

Dahlmann. General Nicholas Dahlmann, commanding the
chasseurs of the guard, was killed in the charge on the Russian
infantry which saved the battle. On April 22nd Napoleon wrote
Vice-Admiral Decres to have three frigates put on the stocks
to be called Dahlmann, Corbineau, and Hautpoul, and in each
captain's cabin a marble inscription recounting their brave deeds.

No. 41.

Young Tascher. The third of Josephine's cousins-germain
of that name. He was afterwards aide-de-camp of Prince
Eugene, and later major-domo of the Empress Eugenie.

No. 42.

After this letter St. Amand declares that Napoleon's letters
to his wife become " cold, short, banal, absolutely insignifi-
cant." "They consisted of a few remarks about the rain
or the fine weather, and always the same refrain the invitation
to be cheerful . . . Napoleon, occupied elsewhere, wrote no
longer to his legitimate wife, but as a duty, as paying a debt of
conscience." He was occupied, indeed, but barely as the author
supposes. It is Bingham (vol. ii. 281) who reminds us that in
the first three months of 1807 we have 1715 letters and despatches

NOTES 257

preserved of his work during that period, while he often rode forty
leagues a day, and had instructed his librarian to send him by
each morning's courier two or three new books from Paris.
Aubenas is more just than St. Amand. " If his style is no longer
that of the First Consul, still less of the General of Italy, he was
solicitous, punctilious, attentive, affectionate even although laconic,
in that correspondence (with Josephine) which, in the midst of
his much greater preoccupations, seems for him as much a plea-
sure as a duty."

No. 43.

/ am still at Eylau. It took Napoleon and his army eight
days to bury the dead and remove the wounded. Lejeune says,
" His whole time was given up now to seeing that the wounded
received proper care, and he insisted on the Russians being as
well treated as the French " (vol. i. 48). The Emperor wrote
Daru that if more surgeons had been on the spot he could have
saved at least 200 lives ; although, to look at the surgical instru-
ments used on these fields, and now preserved in the museum of
Les Invalides, it is wonderful that the men survived operations
with such ghastly implements of torture. A few days later
Napoleon tells Daru on no account to begrudge money for
medicines, and especially for quinine.

This country is covered with dead and wounded. " Napoleon,"
says Dumas (vol. i. 18, 41), "having given order that the succour
to the wounded on both sides might be multiplied, rode over the
field of battle, which all eye-witnesses agree to have been the
most horrible field of carnage which war has ever offered. In a
space of less than a square league, the ground covered with snow,
and the frozen lakes, were heaped up with 10,000 dead, and 3000
to 4000 dead horses, debris of artillery, arms of all kinds, cannon-
balls, and shells. Six thousand Russians, expiring of their wounds,
and of hunger and thirst, were left abandoned to the generosity
of the conqueror."

No. 50.

Osterode. "A wretched village, where I shall pass a con-
siderable time." Owing to the messenger to Bernadotte being

R

2 5 8 NOTES

captured by Cossacks, the Emperor, if not surprised at Eylau on
the second day, found at least all his own intentions anticipated.
He could not risk the same misfortune again, and at Osterode all
his army were within easy hailing distance, " within two marches
at most " (Dumas). Savary speaks of him there, " working,
eating, giving audience, and sleeping all in the same room,"
alone keeping head against the storm of his marshals, who wished
him to retire across the Vistula. He remained over five weeks
at Osterode, and more than two months at Finckenstein Castle,
interesting himself in the affairs of Teheran and Monte Video,
offering prizes for discoveries in electricity and medicine, giving
advice as to the most scientific modes of teaching history and
geography, while objecting to the creation of poet-laureates or
Caesarians whose exaggerated praises would be sure to awaken
the ridicule of the French people, even if it attained its object of
finding a place of emolument for poets. Bignon says (vol. vi.
227) : " From Osterode or from Finckenstein he supervised, as
from Paris or St. Cloud, the needs of France ; he sought means
to alleviate the hindrances to commerce, discussed the best ways
to encourage literature and art, corresponded with all his ministers,
and while awaiting the renewal of the fray, having a war of
figures with his Chancellor of Exchequer."

// is not as good as the great city. The day before he had
written his brother Joseph that neither his officers nor his staff
had taken their clothes off for two months ; that he had not
taken his boots off for a fortnight ; that the wounded had to be
moved 120 miles in sledges, in the open air ; that bread was
unprocurable ; that the Emperor had been living for weeks upon
potatoes, and the officers upon mere meat. "After having
destroyed the Prussian monarchy, we are fighting against the
remnant of the Prussians, against Russians, Cossacks, and Kal-
mucks, those roving tribes of the north, who formerly invaded
the Roman Empire."

/ have ordered what you wish for Malmaison. About this time
he also gave orders for what afterwards became the Bourse and
the Madeleine, and gave hints for a new journal (March yth),
whose "criticism should be enlightened, well-intentioned, im-
partial, and robbed of that noxious brutality which characterises

NOTES 259

the discussions of existing journals, and which is so at variance
with the true sentiments of the nation."

No. 54.

Minerva. In a letter of March yth Josephine writes to
Hortense : " A few days ago I saw a frightful accident at the
Opera. The actress who represented Minerva in the ballet of
* Ulysses ' fell twenty feet and broke her arm. As she is poor,
and has a family to support, I have sent her fifty louis." This
was probably the ballet, "The Return of Ulysses," a subject
given by Napoleon to Fouche as a suitable subject for represen-
tation. In the same letter Josephine writes : " All the private
letters I have received agree in saying that the Emperor was very
much exposed at the battle of Eylau. I get news of him very often,
sometimes two letters a day, but that does not replace him."
This special danger at Eylau is told by Las Cases, who heard it
from Bertrand. Napoleon was on foot, with only a few officers
of his staff; a column of four to five thousand Russians came
almost in contact with him. Berthier instantly ordered up the
horses. The Emperor gave him a reproachful look ; then sent
orders to a battalion of his guard to advance, which was a good
way behind, and standing still. As the Russians advanced he
repeated several times, " What audacity, what audacity ! " At
the sight of his Grenadiers of the Guard the Russians stopped
short. It was high time for them to do so, as Bertrand said.
The Emperor had never stirred ; all who surrounded him had
been much alarmed.

No. 55.

" It is the first and only time," says Aubenas, " that, in these
two volumes of letters (Collection Didot\ Napoleon says vous to
his wife. But his vexation does not last more than a few lines,
and this short letter ends, ' Tout a toi? Not content with this
softening, and convinced how grieved Josephine will be at this
language of cold etiquette, he writes to her the same day, at ten
o'clock at night, before going to bed, a second letter in his old

260 NOTES

style, which ends, 4 Milk et mille amities.'' " It is a later letter
(March 25th) which ends as described, but No. 56 is, neverthe-
less, a kind letter.

No. 56.

Dupuis. Former principal of the Brienne Military School.
Napoleon, always solicitous for the happiness of those whom he
had known in his youth, had made Dupuis his own librarian at
Malmaison. His brother, who died in 1809, was the learned
Egyptologist.

No. 58.

M. de T , i.e. M. de Thiard. In Lettres Inedites de

Napoleon I. (Brotonne), No. 176, to Talleyrand, March 22nd, the
Emperor writes : " I have had M. de Thiard effaced from the list
of officers. I have sent him away, after having testified all my
displeasure, and told him to stay on his estate. He is a man
without military honour and civic fidelity. . . . My intention is
that he shall also be struck off from the number of my chamber-
lains. I have been poignantly grieved at such black ingratitude,
but I think myself fortunate to have found out such a wicked
man in time." De Thiard seems to have been corresponding
with the enemy from Warsaw.

No. 60.

Marshal Bessieres. His chateau of Grignon, now destroyed,
was one of the most beautiful of Provence. Madame de Sevign
lived and was buried in the town of Grignon.

No. 63.

This was printed April 24th in the French editions, but April
1 4th is evidently the correct date.

No. 67.

" Sweet y pouting, and capricious" Aubenas speaks of these
lines " in the style of the Italian period, which seemed in fact to
calm the fears of the Empress."

NOTES 261

No. 68.

Madame . His own sister, Madame Murat, afterwards

Queen of Naples. See note to Letter 35 for her influence over
Junot. The latter was severely reprimanded by Napoleon on his
return and banished from Paris. " Why, for example, does the
Grand Duchess occupy your boxes at the theatres ? Why does
she go thither in your carriage ? Hey ! M. Junot ! you are
surprised that I am so well acquainted with your affairs and those
of that little fool, Madame Murat ? " (" Memoirs of the Duchess
d'Abrantes," vol. iii. 328.)

Measles. As the poor child was ill four days, it was probably
larnygitis from which he died an ailment hardly distinguishable
from croup, and one of the commonest sequelae of measles. He
died on May 5th.

The best account is the Memoirs of Stanislaus Giraudin.
They had applied leeches to the child's chest, and had finally
recourse to some English powders of unknown composition, which
caused a rally, followed by the final collapse. King Louis said
the child's death was caused by the Dutch damp climate, which
was bad for his own health. Josephine hastens to join her
daughter, but breaks down at Lacken, where Hortense, more
dead than alive, joins her, and returns to Paris with her.

No. 69.

/ trust I may hear you have been rational in your sorrow. As a
matter of fact he had heard the opposite, for the following day
(May 1 5th) he writes to his brother Jerome : " Napoleon died in
three days at the Hague ; I know not if the King has advised
you of it. This event gives me the more pain insomuch as his
father and mother are not rational, and are giving themselves up
to all the transports of their grief." To Fouch6 he writes three
days later : " I have been very much afflicted by the misfortune
which has befallen me. I had hoped for a more brilliant destiny
for that poor child ; " and on May 2Oth, " I have felt the loss of
the little Napoleon very acutely. I would have wished that his
father and mother should have received from their temperament

262 NOTES

as much courage as I for knowing how to bear all the ills of
life. But they are younger, and have reflected less on the frailty
of our worldly possessions." It is typical of Napoleon that the
only man to whom, as far as we know, he unbosomed his sorrow
should be one of his early friends, even though that friend should
be the false and faithless Fouche, who requited his confidence
later by vile and baseless allegations respecting the parentage of
this very child. In one respect only did Napoleon resemble
David in his supposititious sin, which was, that when the child was
dead, he had neither time nor temperament to waste in futile
regrets. As he said on another occasion, if his wife had died
during the Austerlitz Campaign it would not have delayed his
operations a quarter of an hour. But he considers practical succour
to the living as the most fitting memorial to the dead, and writes
on June 4th to De Champagny : " Twenty years ago a malady
called croup showed itself in the north of Europe. Some years
ago it spread into France. I require you to offer a prize of 500
(12,000 francs), to be given to the doctor who writes the best
essay on this malady and its mode of treatment." Commenting
on this letter Bignon (vol. vi. p. 262) adds, " It is, however, for-
tunate when, on the eve of battles, warlike princes are pondering
over ways of preserving the population of their states."

No. 71.

May 2Oth. On this date he writes Hortense : " My daughter,
all the news I get from the Hague tells me that you are not
rational. However legitimate your .grief, it must have limits :
never impair your health ; seek distractions, and know that life
is strewn with so many rocks, and may be the source of so many
miseries, that death is not the greatest of all. Your affectionate
father, NAPOLEON."

No. 74.

/ am vexed with Hortense. The same day he encloses with
this a letter to Hortense. " My daughter, you have not written
me a line during your great and righteous grief. You have
forgotten everything, as if you had nothing more to lose. They

NOTES 263

say you care no longer for any one, that you are callous about
everything ; I note the truth of it by your silence. This is not
well, Hortense, it is not what you promised me. Your son was
everything for you. Are your mother and myself nothing ?
Had I been at Malmaison I should have shared your grief, but I
should have wished you at the same time to turn to your best
friends. Good-bye, my daughter, be cheerful ; it is necessary to
be resigned ; keep well, in order to fulfil all your duties. My
wife is utterly miserable about your condition ; do not increase
her sorrow. Your affectionate father, NAPOLEON."

Hortense had been on such bad terms with her husband for
several months past that Napoleon evidently thinks it wiser not
to allude to him, although he had written Louis a very strong
letter on his treatment of his wife two months earlier (see letter
12,294 of the Correspondence, April 4th). There is, however, a
temporary reunion between husband and wife in their common
sorrow.

No. 78.

Fried/and. On this day he wrote a further letter to the
Queen of Holland (No. 12,761 of the Correspondence): "My
daughter, I have your letter dated Orleans. Your grief pains me,
but I should like you to possess more courage ; to live is to
suffer, and the true man is always fighting for mastery over him-
self. I do not like to see you unjust towards the little Napoleon
Louis, and towards all your friends. Your mother and I had
hoped to be more to you than we are." She had been sent to
take the waters of Cauterets, and had left her child Napoleon
Louis (who died at Forli, 1831) with Josephine, who writes
to her daughter (June nth) : "He amuses me much ; he is so
gentle. I find he has all the ways of that poor child that we
mourn." And a few days later : " There remains to you a
husband, an interesting child, and a mother whose love you
know." Josephine had with women the same tact that her
husband had with men, but the Bonaparte family, with all its
good qualities, strained the tact and tempers of both to the
utmost.

264 NOTES

No. 79.

Tilsit. Referring to Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit,
Michaud says : " Both full of wiles and devices, they affected
nevertheless the most perfect sentiments of generosity, which at
the bottom they scarcely dreamed of practising. Reunited, they
were the masters of the world, but such a union seemed impos-
sible ; they would rather share it among themselves. Allies and
rivals, friends and enemies, all were sacrificed ; henceforth there
were to be only two powers, that of the East and that of the
West. Bonaparte at this time actually ruled from the Niemen
to the Straits of Gibraltar, from the North Sea to the base of the
Italian Peninsula."

SERIES H

No. i.

Milan. Magnificent public works were set on foot by
Napoleon at Milan, and the Cathedral daily adorned with
fresh marvels of sculpture. Arriving here on the morning of
the 22nd, Napoleon goes first to hear the Te Deum at the
Cathedral, then to see Eugene's wife at the Monza Palace ; in
the evening to the La Scala Theatre, and finishes the day (to
use an Irishism) by working most of the night.

Mont Cents. "The roads of the Simplon and Mont Cenis
were kept in the finest order, and daily attracted fresh crowds of
strangers to the Italian plains." So says Alison, but on the
present occasion Napoleon was overtaken by a storm which put
his life in danger. He was fortunate enough to reach a cave in
which he took refuge. This cave appeared to him, as he after-
wards said, " a cave of diamonds " (Meneval).

Eugene. The writer in Biog. Univ. (art. Josephine) says :
" During a journey that Napoleon made in Italy (November
1807) he wished, while loading Eugene with favours, to prepare
his mind for his mother's divorce. The Decree of Milan, by
which, in default of male and legitimate children 1 of the direct

1 The Decree itself says " nos enfants et descendants males, legitimes et
naturels."

NOTES 265

line, he adopted Eugene for his son and his successor to the
throne of Italy, gave to those who knew how to read the secret
thoughts of the Emperor in his patent acts the proof that he had
excluded him from all inheritance in the Imperial Crown of
France, and that he dreamed seriously of a new alliance himself."

No. 2.

Venice. The Venetians gave Napoleon a wonderful ovation
many nobles spending a year's income on the ftes. " Innum-
erable gondolas glittering with a thousand colours and resounding
with the harmony of instruments, escorted the barges which bore,
together with the master of the world, the Viceroy and the
Vice-Queen of Italy, the King and Queen of Bavaria, the
Princess of Lucca, the King of Naples (Joseph, who stayed six
days with his brother), the Grand Duke of Berg, the Prince of
Neufchatel, and the greater part of the generals of the old army
of Italy" (Thiers). While at Venice Napoleon was in easy
touch with the Porte, of which he doubtless made full use, while,
per contra^ he was expected to give Greece her independence.

November ^oth. Leaving Milan, Napoleon came straight
through Brescia to Verona, where he supped with the King and
Queen of Bavaria. The next morning he started for Vicenza
through avenues of vine-encircled poplars and broad yellow
wheat-fields which "lay all golden in the sunlight and the
breeze " (Constant). The Emperor went to the theatre at
Vicenza, and left again at 2 A.M. Spending the night at Stra,
he met the Venetian authorities early the next morning at
Fusina.

No. 3.

Udine. He is here on the I2th, and then hastens to meet
his brother Lucien at Mantua the main but secret object of his
journey to Italy. It is most difficult to gauge the details was it
a political or a conjugal question that made the interview a
failure ? Madame D'Abrantes, voicing the rumours of the day,
thinks the former ; Lucien, writing Memoirs for his wife and chil-
dren, declares it to be the latter. Napoleon was prepared to legalise

266 NOTES

the children of his first wife, and marry the eldest to Prince
Ferdinand, the heir to the Spanish crown ; but Lucien considers
the Bourbons to be enemies of France and of the Bonapartes.
These Memoirs of Lucien are not perhaps very trustworthy,
especially where his prejudices overlap his memory or his judg-
ment, but always instructive and very readable. When the
account of this interview was written (early in 1812), Lucien
was an English prisoner, furious that his brother has just refused
to exchange him for "some English Lords." Speaking of
Josephine, the Emperor tells him that in spite of her reputation
for good-nature, she is more malicious than generally supposed,
although for her husband " she has no nails " ; but he adds that
rumours of impending divorce have made life between them very
constrained. " Only imagine," continued the Emperor, " that
wife of mine weeps every time she has indigestion, because she
says she thinks herself poisoned by those who wish me to marry
some one else. It is perfectly hateful." He said that Joseph
also thought of a divorce, as his wife gave him only daughters,
and that the three brothers might be remarried on the same day.
The Emperor regretted not having taken the Princess Augusta,
daughter of his " best friend, the King of Bavaria," for himself,
instead of for Eugene, who did not know how to appreciate her
and was unfaithful. He was convinced that Russia by invading
India would overthrow England, and that his own soldiers were
ready to follow him to the antipodes. He ends by offering
Lucien his choice of thrones Naples, Italy, "the brightest jewel
of my Imperial crown," or Spain l (Madame D'Abrantes adds
Prussia), if he will give way about Madame Jouberthon and her
children. "Tout pour Lucien divorce, rien pour Lucien sans
divorce." When Napoleon finds his brother obdurate he makes
Eugene Prince of Venice, and his eldest daughter Princess of
Bologna, with a large appanage. Lucien is in fresh disgrace
within less than three months of the Mantuan interview, for on
March n, 1808, Napoleon writes brother Joseph, "Lucien is
misconducting himself at Rome . . . and is more Roman than

1 On October llth Prince Ferdinand had written Napoleon for " the honour
of allying himself to a Princess of his august family " ; and Lucien's eldest daughter
was Napoleon's only choice.

NOTES 267

the Pope himself. His conduct has been scandalous ; he is my
open enemy, and that of France. ... I will not permit a
Frenchman, and one of my own brothers, to be the first to
conspire and act against me, with a rabble of priests."

/ may soon be in Paris. After leaving Milan he visits the
fortifications at Alessandria, and is met by a torchlight procession
at Marengo. Letters for two days (December 27-28th) are
dated Turin, although Constant says he did not stop there.
Crossing Mont Cenis on December 3Oth he reaches the Tuileries
on the evening of New Year's Day (1808).

SERIES I

No. i.

Bayonne is half-way between Paris and Madrid, nearly 600
miles from each. Napoleon arrived here April I5th, and left
July 2ist, returning with Josephine via Pau, Tarbes, Auch,
Montauban, Agen, Bordeaux, Rochefort, Nantes. Everywhere
he received a hearty welcome, even, and especially, in La
Vendee. He arrives at Paris August I4th, hearing on August 3rd
at Bordeaux of (what he calls) the " horrible catastrophe " of
General Dupont at Baylen.

No. 2.

A country-house. The Chateau of Marrac. Marbot had stayed
there in 1803 with Augereau. Bausset informs us that this
chateau had been built either for the Infanta Marie Victoire
engaged to Louis XV., or for the Dowager Queen of Charles II.,
"the bewitched," when she was packed off from Madrid to
Bayonne (see Hume's Spain, 1479-1788).

Everything is still most primitive. Nevertheless he enjoyed the
parnperruque which was danced before the chateau by seven men
and ten maidens, gaily dressed the women armed with tam-
bourines and the men with castanets. Saint-Amand speaks of
thirteen performers (seven men and six maidens) chosen from

268 NOTES

the leading families of the town, to render what for time im-
memorial had been considered fit homage for the most illustrious
persons.

No. 3.

Prince of the Asturias. The Emperor had received him at the
chateau of Marrac, paid him all the honours due to royalty, while
evading the word " Majesty," and insisting the same day on his
giving up all claim to the Crown of Spain. Constant says he
was heavy of gait, and rarely spoke.

The Queen. A woman of violent passions. The Prince of
the Asturias had designs on his mother's life, while the Queen
openly begged Napoleon to put the Prince to death. On May gth
Napoleon writes Talleyrand to prepare to take charge of Ferdi-
nand at Valencay, adding that if the latter were "to become
attached to some pretty woman, whom we are sure of, it would
be no disadvantage." A new experience for a Montmorency
to become the keeper of a Bourbon, rather than his Constable.
Pasquier, with his usual Malvolian decorum, gives fuller details.
Napoleon, he says, "enumerates with care (to Talleyrand) all
the precautions that are to be taken to prevent his escape, and
even goes so far as to busy himself with the distractions which
may be permitted him. And, be it noted, the principal one
thrown in his way was given him by a young person who lived
at the time under M. De Talleyrand's roof. This liaison, of
which Ferdinand soon became distrustful, did not last as long
as it was desired to."

No. 4.

A son has been born. By a plebiscite of the year XII. (1804-5),
the children of Louis and Hortense were to be the heirs of
Napoleon, and in conformity with this the child born on April aoth
at 1 7 Rue Lafitte (now the residence of the Turkish Ambassador),
was inscribed on the register of the Civil List destined for princes
of the blood. His two elder brothers had not been so honoured,
but in due course the King of Rome was entered thereon. Had
Louis accepted the Crown of Spain which Napoleon had in vain

NOTES 269

offered to him, and of which Hortense would have made an ideal
Queen, the chances are that Napoleon would never have divorced
Josephine. St. Amand shows at length that the future
Napoleon III. is truly the child of Louis, and neither of Admiral
Verhuell nor of the Duke Decazes. Louis and Hortense in the
present case are sufficiently agreed to insist that the father's name
be preserved by the child, who is called Charles Louis Napoleon,
and not Charles Napoleon, which was the Emperor's first choice.
In either case the name of the croup-stricken firstborn had
been preserved. On April 23rd Josephine had already two
letters from Cambacres respecting mother and child, and on this
day the Empress writes her daughter : " I know that Napoleon
is consoled for not having a sister."

Arrive on the 2Jth. Josephine, always wishful to humour her
husband's love of punctuality, duly arrived on the day fixed, and
took up her abode with her husband in the chateau of Marrac.
Ferdinand wrote to his uncle in Madrid to beware of the cursed
Frenchmen, telling him also that Josephine had been badly re-
ceived at Bayonne. The letter was intercepted, and Napoleon
wrote Murat that the writer was a liar, a fool, and a hypocrite.
The Emperor, in fact, never trusted the Prince henceforward.
Bausset, who translated the letter, tells how the Emperor could
scarcely believe that the Prince would use so strong an adjective,
but was convinced on seeing the word ma/dittos, which he
remarked was almost the Italian maledetto.

SERIES J

Leaving St. Cloud September 22nd, Napoleon is at Metz
on the 23rd, at Kaiserlautern on the 24th, where he sends a
message to the Empress in a letter to Cambace'res, and on the
2yth is at Erfurt On the 28th the Emperors of France and
Russia sign a Convention of Alliance. Napoleon leaves Erfurt
October I4th (the anniversary of Jena), travels incognito, and
arrives St. Cloud October i8th.

270 NOTES

No. i.

/ have rather a cold. Napoleon had insisted on going to ex-
plore a new road he had ordered between Metz and Mayence,
and which no one had ventured to say was not complete. The
road was so bad that the carriage of the maitre des requetes,
who had been summoned to account for the faulty work, was
precipitated a hundred feet down a ravine near Kaiserlautern.

/ am pleased with the Emperor and every one here. Which in-
cluded what he had promised Talma for his audience a parterre
of kings. Besides the two Emperors, the King of Prussia was
represented by his brother Prince William, Austria by General
Vincent, and there were also the Kings of Saxony, Bavaria,
Wurtemberg, Westphalia, and Naples, the Prince Primate, the
Princes of Anhalt, Coburg, Saxe-Weimar, Darmstadt, Baden,
and Nassau. Talleyrand, Champagny, Maret, Duroc, Berthier,
and Caulaincourt, with Generals Oudinot, Soult, and Lauriston
accompanied Napoleon. Literature was represented by Goethe,
Wieland, Miiller ; and feminine attractions by the Duchess of
Saxe-Weimar and the wily Princess of Tour and Taxis, sister
of the Queen of Prussia. Pasquier and others have proved that
at Erfurt Talleyrand did far more harm than good to his master's
cause, and in fact intended to do so. On his arrival he spent
his first evening with the Princess of Tour and Taxis, in order
to meet the Emperor Alexander, and said : " Sire ... It is
for you to save Europe, and the only way of attaining this object
is by resisting Napoleon. The French people are civilised, their
Emperor is not : the sovereign of Russia is civilised, his people
are not. It is therefore for the sovereign of Russia to be the
ally of the French people," of whom Talleyrand declared
himself to be the representative. By squaring Alexander this
transcendental (unfrocked) Vicar of Bray, " with an oar in every
boat," is once more hedging, or, to use his own phrase, guar-
anteeing the future, and at the same time securing the daughter
of the Duchess of Courland for his nephew, Edmond de Perigord.
" The Arch-apostate " carried his treason so far as to advise
Alexander of Napoleon's ulterior views, and thus enabled the former
to forestall them no easy matter in conversations with Napoleon

NOTES 271

" lasting whole days " (see Letter No. 3, this Series). Talleyrand
had also a grievance. He had been replaced as Foreign Minister
by Champagny. He had accepted the surrender of his portfolio
gladly, as now, becoming Vice-Grand Elector, he ranked with
Cambaceres and Maret. But when he found that Napoleon,
who liked to have credit for his own diplomacy, seldom consulted
him, or allowed Champagny to do so, jealousy and ill-will naturally
resulted.

No. 2.

Shooting over the battlefield of Jena. The presence of the
Emperor Alexander on this occasion was considered a great
affront to his recent ally, the King of Prussia, and is severely
commented on by Von Moltke in one of his Essays. In fairness
to Alexander, we must remember that their host, the Duke of
Saxe-Weimar, had married his sister. Von Moltke, by the way,
speaks of hares forming the sport in question, but Savary of a
second battle of Jena fought against the partridges. The fact
seems to be that all kinds of game, including stags and deer, were
driven by the beaters to the royal sportsmen in their huts, and
the Emperor Alexander, albeit short-sighted, succeeded in killing
a stag, at eight feet distance, at the first shot.

The Weimar ball. This followed the Jena shoot, and the
dancing lasted all night. The Russian courtiers were scandalised
at their Emperor dancing, but while he was present the dancing
was conventional enough, consisting of promenading two and two
to the strains of a Polish march. " Imperial Waltz, imported
from the Rhine," was already the rage in Germany, and Napoleon,
in order to be more worthy of his Austrian princess, tried next
year to master this new science of tactics, but after a trial with the
Princess Stephanie, the lady declared that her pupil should always
give lessons, and never receive them. He was rather more success-
ful at billiards, pursued under the same praiseworthy incentive.

A few trifling ailments. Mainly a fearful nightmare ; a new
experience, in which he imagines his vitals torn out by a bear.
" Significant of much ! " As when also the Russian Emperor
finds himself without a sword and accepts that of Napoleon as

272 NOTES

a gift : and when, on the last night, the latter orders his
comedians to play " Bajazet," little thinking the appointed
Tamerlane was by his side.

No. 3.

/ am pleased with Alexander. For the time being Josephine
had most reason to be pleased with Alexander, who failed to
secure his sister's hand for Napoleon.

He ought to be with me. He might have been, had not
Napoleon purposely evaded the Eastern Question. On this sub-
ject Savary writes (vol. ii. 297) : " Since Tilsit, Napoleon had
sounded the personal views of his ambassador at Constantinople,
General Sebastiani, as to this proposition of the Emperor of
Russia (i.e. the partition of Turkey). This ambassador was
utterly opposed to this project, and in a long report that he
sent to the Emperor on his return from Constantinople, he
demonstrated to him that it was absolutely necessary for
France never to consent to the dismemberment of the Turkish
Empire ; the Emperor Napoleon adopted his views." And
these Talleyrand knew. The whirligig of time brings about
its revenges, and in less than fifty years Lord Palmerston
had to seek an alliance with France and the house of Napoleon
in order to maintain the fixed policy that sent Napoleon I. to
Moscow and to St. Helena. " Alexander, with justice," says
Alison, "looked upon Constantinople as the back-door of his
empire, and was earnest that its key should be placed in his
hands." " Alexander," Napoleon told O'Meara, " wanted to
get Constantinople, which I would not allow, as it would
have destroyed the equilibrium of power in Europe. I reflected
that France would gain Egypt, Syria, and the islands, which
would have been nothing in comparison with what Russia would
have obtained. I considered that the barbarians of the north
were already too powerful, and probably in the course of time
would overwhelm all Europe, as I now think they will. Austria
already trembles : Russia and Prussia united, Austria falls, and
England cannot prevent it."

NOTES 273

Erfurt is the meridian of Napoleon's first thirteen years
(1796-1808) each more glorious; henceforward (1809-1821)
ever faster he " rolls, darkling, down the torrent of his fate."

SERIES K

No. 5.
Written from Aranda.

No. 6.

Written from the Imperial Camp outside Madrid. Neither
Napoleon l nor Joseph entered the capital, but King Joseph took
up his abode at the Prado, the castle of the Kings of Spain, two
miles away ; while the Emperor was generally at Chamartin,
some five miles distant. He had arrived on the heights surround-
ing Madrid on his Coronation Day (December 2nd), and does
not fail to remind his soldiers and his people of this auspicious
coincidence. The bulletin concludes with a tirade against
England, whose conduct is " shameful," but her troops " well
disciplined and superb." It declares that Spain has been treated
by them as they have treated Holland, Sardinia, Austria, Russia,
and Sweden. " They foment war everywhere ; they distribute
weapons like poison ; but they shed their blood only for their
direct and personal interests."

Parisian weather of the last fortnight in May. In his bulletin of
the 1 3th, he says : " Never has such a month of December been
known in this country ; one would think it the beginning of
spring." But ten days later all was changed, and the storm of
Guadarrama undoubtedly saved Moore and the English army.
" Was it then decreed," groans Thiers, " that we, who were
always successful against combined Europe, should on no single
occasion prevail against those implacable foes ? "

1 Napoleon visited Madrid and its Palais Royal incognito, and (like Vienna)
by night (Bausset).

S

274 NOTES

No. 8.

Other letters of this date are headed Madrid.

Kourakin. Alexander Kourakin was the new Russian Am-
bassador at Paris, removed thence from Vienna to please Napoleon,
and to replace Tolstoi, who, according to Savary, was always
quarrelling with French officers on military points, but who could
hardly be so narrow-minded a novice on these points as his name-
sake of to-day. This matter had been arranged at Erfurt.

No. 9.

The English appear to have received reinforcements. Imagine a
Transvaal with a population of ten millions, and one has a fair
idea of the French difficulties in Spain, even without Portugal.
The Spaniards could not fight a scientific battle like Jena or
Friedland, but they were incomparable at guerilla warfare. The
Memoirs of Barons Marbot and Lejeune have well demonstrated
this. The latter, an accomplished linguist, sent to locate Moore's
army, found that to pass as an Englishman the magic words
" Damn it," won him complete success.

No. 10.

Benavente. Here they found 600 horses, which had been
hamstrung by the English.

The English flee panic-stricken. The next day Napoleon writes
Fouch6 to have songs written, and caricatures made of them,
which are also to be translated into German and Italian, and
circulated in Germany and Italy.

The weather is very bad. Including 1 8 degrees of frost.
Savary says they had never felt the cold so severe in Poland
and that they ran a risk of being buried in the snow. The
Emperor had to march on foot and was very much tired. " On
these occasions," adds Savary, "the Emperor was not selfish, as
people would have us believe ... he shared his supper x and his
fire with all who accompanied him : he went so far as to make
1 With Lejeune on one occasion.

NOTES 275

those eat whom he saw in need of it." Napier gives other details :
" Napoleon, on December 22nd, has 50,000 men at the foot of
the Guadarrama. A deep snow choked the passes of the Sierra,
and after twelve hours' toil the advanced guards were still on
the wrong side : the general commanding reported the road im-
practicable, but Napoleon, dismounting, placed himself at the
head of the column, and amidst storms of hail and driving snow,
led his soldiers over the mountain." At the passage of the Esla
Moore escapes Napoleon by twelve hours. Marbot, as usual,
gives picturesque details. Officers and men marched with locked
arms, the Emperor between Lannes and Duroc. Half-way up,
the marshals and generals, who wore jack-boots, could go no
further. Napoleon, however, got hoisted on to a gun, and
bestrode it : the marshals and generals did the same, and in this
grotesque order they reached, after four hours' toil, the convent
at the summit.

Lefebvre. As they neared Benavente the slush became fright-
ful, and the artillery could not keep pace. General Lefebvre-
Desnouette went forward, with the horse regiment of the Guard,
forded the Esla with four squadrons, was outnumbered by the
English (3000 to 300), but he and sixty (Lejeune, who escaped,
says a hundred) of his chasseurs were captured. He was brought
in great triumph to Sir John Moore. "That general," says
Thiers, " possessed the courtesy characteristic of all great nations ;
he received with the greatest respect the brilliant general who
commanded Napoleon's light cavalry, seated him at his table, and
presented him with a magnificent Indian sabre."

No. ii.

Probably written from Astorga, where he arrived on January
ist, having brought 50,000 men two hundred miles in ten days.

Tour letters. These probably, and others received by a courier,
decided him to let Soult follow the English to Corunna especi-
ally as he knew that transports were awaiting the enemy there.
He himself prepares to return, for Fouch and Talleyrand are
in league, the slim and slippery Metternich is ambassador at Paris,
Austria is arming, and the whole political horizon, apparently

276 NOTES

bright at Erfurt, completely overcast. Murat, balked of the
Crown of Spain, is now hoping for that of France if Napoleon
is killed or assassinated. It is Talleyrand and Fouch6 who have
decided on Murat, and on the ultimate overthrow of the Beau-
harnais. Unfortunately for their plans Eugene is apprised by
Lavalette, and an incriminating letter to Murat captured and
sent post-haste to Napoleon. This, says Pasquier, undoubtedly
hastened the Emperor's return. Ignoring the complicity of
Fouche, the whole weight of his anger falls on Talleyrand, who
loses the post of High Chamberlain, which he had enjoyed since
1804. For half-an-hour this "arch-apostate," as Lord Rosebery
calls him, receives a torrent of invectives. " You are a thief, a
coward, a man without honour ; you do not believe in God ; you
have all your life been a traitor to your duties ; you have deceived
and betrayed everybody : nothing is sacred to you ; you would
sell your own father. I have loaded you down with gifts, and
there is nothing that you would not undertake against me. Thus,
for the past ten months, you have been shameless enough, because
you supposed, rightly or wrongly, that my affairs in Spain were
going astray, to say to all who would listen to you that you
always blamed my undertaking there, whereas it was yourself
who first put it into my head, and who persistently urged it.
And that man, that unfortunate (he was thus designating the Due
d'Enghien), by whom was I advised of the place of his residence ?
Who drove me to deal cruelly with him ? What then are you
aiming at ? What do you wish for ? What do you hope ? Do
you dare to say ? You deserve that I should smash you like a
wine-glass. I can do it, but I despise you too much to take the
trouble." This we are assured by the impartial Pasquier, who
heard it from an ear-witness, and second-hand from Talleyrand,
is an abstract of what Napoleon said, and to which the ex-
Bishop made no reply.

No. 12.

The English are in utter rout. Still little but dead men and
horses fell into his hands. Savary adds the interesting fact that
all the (800) dead cavalry horses had a foot missing, which the

NOTES 277

English had to show their officers to prove that they had not sold
their horses. Scott, on barely sufficient evidence perhaps, states,
" The very treasure-chests of the army were thrown away and
abandoned. There was never so complete an example of a disas-
trous retreat." The fact seems to have been that the soldiership
was bad, but Moore's generalship excellent. Napier writes, " No
wild horde of Tartars ever fell with more license upon their rich
effeminate neighbours than did the English troops upon the
Spanish towns taken by storm." What could be expected of
such men in retreat, when even Lord Melville had just said in
extenuation of our army that the worst men make the best
soldiers ?

Nos. 13 AND 14.

Written at Valladolid. Here he received a deputation asking
that his brother may reside in Madrid, to which he agrees, and
awaits its arrangement before setting out for Paris.

At Valladolid he met De Pradt, whom he mistrusted ; but
who, like Talleyrand, always amused him. In the present case
the Abbe told him that " the Spaniards would never thank him for
interfering in their behalf, and that they were like Sganarelle in
the farce, who quarrelled with a stranger for interfering with her
husband when he was beating her " (Scott's " Napoleon ").

He leaves Valladolid January I7th, and is in Paris on January
24th. He rode the first seventy miles, to Burgos, in five and a
half hours, stopping only to change horses. 1 Well might Savary
say, " Never had a sovereign ridden at such a speed."

Eugene has a daughter. The Princess Eugnie-Hortense,
born December 23rd at Milan ; married the hereditary Prince of
Hohenzollern Hechingen.

They are foolish in Paris if not worse. Talleyrand, Fouche,
and others were forming what amounted to a conspiracy, and
the Empress herself, wittingly or unwittingly, had served as
their tool. For the first time she answers a deputation of the
Corps Legislatif, who come to congratulate her on her hus-

1 Biographie Univcrselle. Michaud says ponies.

278 NOTES

band's victories, and says that doubtless his Majesty would be
very sensible of the homage of an assembly which represents the
nation. Napoleon sees in this remark a germ of aggression on
behalf of his House of Commons, more especially when empha-
sised by 125 blackballs against a Government Bill. He takes
the effective but somewhat severe step of contradicting his wife
in the Monlteur^ or rather declaring that the Empress knew the
laws too well not to know that the Emperor was the chief
representative of the People, then the Senate, and last the Corps
L6gislatif.

" It would be a wild and even criminal assertion to try to
represent the nation before the Emperor."

All through the first half of 1809 another dangerous plot, of
which the centre was the Princess of Tour and Taxis, had its
threads far and wide. Many of Soult's generals were implicated,
and in communication with the English, preventing their com-
mander getting news of Wellesley's movements (Napier). When
they find Soult cannot be traduced, they lend a willing ear to
stirring up strife between the Emperor and Soult, by suggesting
that the latter should be made King of Portugal. Madame
d'Abrantes, who heard in 1814 that the idea had found favour
with English statesmen, thinks such a step would have seriously
injured Napoleon (vol. iv. 53).

SERIES L

1809.

The dangers surrounding Napoleon were immense. The
Austrian army, 320,000 strong (with her Landwehr, 544,000
men) and 800 cannon, had never been so great, never so fitted
for war. Prussia was already seething with secret societies, of
which as yet the only formidable one was the Tugendbund, whose
headquarters were Konigsburg, and whose chief members were
Stein, Stadion, Blucher, Jahn. Perhaps their most sensible
scheme was to form a united German empire, with the Archduke

NOTES 279

Charles 1 as its head. The Archduke Ferdinand invaded the
Duchy of Warsaw, and had he taken Thorn with its park of 100
cannon, Prussia was to join Austria. In Italy the Carbonari and
Adelphes 2 only waited for the French troops to go north to meet
the Austrians to spread revolt in Italy. Of the former the head
lodge was at Capua and its constitutions written in English, since
England was aiding this chouanerie religieuse as a lever against
Napoleon. England had an army of 40,000 men ready to em-
bark in any direction to Holland, Belgium, Naples, or Biscay,
while the French troops in Portugal were being tampered with to
receive Moreau as their leader, and to march with Spaniards and
English for the Pyrenees. At Paris Talleyrand was in partial
disgrace, but he and Fouche were still plotting the latter, says
Pelet, forwarding daily a copy of the private bulletin (prepared
for Napoleon's eye alone) to the Bourbons. After Essling and
the breaking of the Danube bridge, he hesitated between seizing
supreme power himself or offering it to Bernadotte.

Up to the last up to March 2Jth the Correspondence proves
that Napoleon had hoped that war would be averted through the
influence of Russia. " All initiative," he declared, " rested on the
heads of the court of Austria." " Menaced on all sides ; warned
of the intentions of his enemies by their movements and by their
intercepted correspondence ; seeing from that moment hostilities
imminent, he wishes to prove to France and Europe that all the
wrongs are on their side, and awaits in his capital the news of an
aggression that nothing justifies, nothing warrants. Vain pru-
dence ! Europe will accuse him of having been the instigator on
every occasion, even in this." 3 On April 8th the Austrians
violated Bavarian territory, and during his supreme command for

1 This Archduke was the "international man" at this juncture. Louis
Bonaparte speaks of a society at Saragossa, of which the object was to make
the Archduke Charles king of Spain.

3 These Adelphes or Philadelphes were the socialists or educated anarchists of
that day. They wished for the itatu qiM before Napoleon became supreme ruler.
They had members in his army, and it seems quite probable that Bernadotte
gave them passive support. General Oudet was their recognised head, and he
died under suspicious circumstances after Wagram. The society was, unlike the
Carbonari, anti-Catholic.

3 Pelet, vol. i. 127.

280 NOTES

the next five days Berthier endangered the safety of the French
empire in spite of the most elaborate and lucid instructions from
Napoleon, which he failed to comprehend. " Never," says Pelet,
" was so much written, never so little done. Each of his letters
(Berthier's) attests the great difference which existed between his
own correspondence and that which was dictated to him." An
ideal chief of staff, he utterly lacked the decision necessary for
a commander-in-chief. The arrival of Napoleon changed in a
moment the position of affairs. " The sudden apparition of the
Emperor produced the effect of the head of Medusa, and paralysed
the enemy." 1 Within five days the Austrians were four times
defeated, and Ratisbon, the passe-partout of Southern Germany
and half-way house between Strasburg and Vienna, is once more
in the hands of France and her allies. Pelet considers these
operations as the finest which have been executed either in
ancient or modern times, at any rate those of which the projects
are authentically proved. He foretells that military men from
every country of Europe, but specially young Frenchmen, will
religiously visit the fields of the Laber. They will visit, with
Napoleon's Correspondence in their hands, " much more precious
than every other commentary, the hills of Pfaffenhofen, the bridge
of Landshut, and that of Eckmuhl, the mill of Stangl, and the
woods of Roking." A few days later the Archduke Charles
writes a letter to Napoleon, which is a fair type of those charm-
ing yet stately manners which made him at that moment the
most popular man in Europe. " Sire," he writes, " your Majesty's
arrival was announced to me by the thunder of artillery, without
giving me time to compliment you thereon. Scarcely advised of
your presence, I was made sensible of it by the losses which you
have caused me. You have taken many of my men, Sire ; my
troops also have made some thousands of prisoners in places
where you did not direct the operations. I propose to your
Majesty to exchange them man for man, grade for grade, and if
that offer is agreeable to you, please let me know your intentions
for the place destined for the exchange. I feel flattered, sire, in
fighting against the greatest captain of the age. I should be
more happy if destiny had chosen me to procure for my country
1 Pelet, vol. i. 282.

NOTES 281

the benefit of a lasting peace. Whichsoever they be, the events
of war or the approach of peace, I beg your Majesty to believe
that my desires always carry me to meet you, and that I hold
myself equally honoured in finding the sword, or the olive branch,
in the hand of your Majesty."

No. i.

Donauwerth. On the same day Napoleon writes almost an
identical letter to Cambaceres, adding, however, the news that
the Tyrolese are in full revolt.

On April 2Oth he placed himself at the head of the Wurtem-
bergers and Bavarians at Abensburg. He made a stirring
speech (No. 15,099 of Correspondence), and Lejeune tells us
that the Prince Royal of Bavaria translated into German one
sentence after another as the Emperor spoke, and officers re-
peated the translations throughout the ranks.

On April 24th is issued from Ratisbon his proclamation to
the army : "Soldiers, you have justified my expectations. You
have made up for your number by your bravery. You have
gloriously marked the difference between the soldiers of Caesar
and the armed cohorts of Xerxes. In a few days we have
triumphed in the pitched battles of Thann, Abensberg, and
Eckmuhl, and in the combats of Peising, Landshut, and Ratisbon.
A hundred cannon, forty flags, fifty thousand prisoners. . . .
Before a month we shall be at Vienna." It was within three
weeks ! He was specially proud of Eckmuhl, and we are pro-
bably indebted to a remark of Pasquier for his chief but never
divulged reason. "A noteworthy fact in connection with this
battle was that the triumphant army was composed principally of
Bavarians and Wurtembergers. Under his direction, these allies
were as greatly to be feared as the French themselves." At St.
Helena was written : " The battle of Abensberg, the manoeuvres of
Landshut, and the battle of Eckmuhl were the most brilliant and
the most skilful manoeuvres of Napoleon." Eckmuhl ended with
a fine exhibition of a " white arm " melee by moonlight, in which
the French proved the superiority of their double cuirasses over

282 NOTES

the breastplates of the Austrians. Pelet gives this useful abstract
of the Campaign of Five Days :

April igth. Union of the French army whilst fighting the
Archduke, whose base is already menaced.

April 2Oth. Napoleon, at Abensburg and on the banks of
the Laber, breaks the Austrian line, totally separating the centre
from the left, which he causes to be turned by Massena.

April 2.1st. He destroys their left wing at Landshut, and
captures the magazines, artillery, and train, as well as the com-
munications of the enemy's grand army, fixing definitely his own
line of operations, which he already directs on Vienna.

April 22nd. He descends the Laber to Eckmiihl, gives the last
blow to the Archduke's army, of which the remnant takes refuge
in Ratisbon.

April 2yd. He takes that strong place, and forces the Arch-
duke to take refuge in the mountains of Bohemia.

No. 2.

May 6th. On May 1st Napoleon was still at Braunau, wait-
ing for news from Davoust. Travelling by night at his usual
speed he reached Lambach at noon on May 2nd, and Wels on
the 3rd. The next morning he heard Massena's cannon at
Ebersberg, but reaches the field at the fall of night too late to
save the heavy cost of Massena's frontal attack. The French lost
at least 1500 killed and wounded ; the Austrians (under Hiller)
the same number killed and 7000 prisoners. Pelet defends
Massena, and quotes the bulletin of May 4th (omitted from the
Correspondence) : " It is one of the finest feats of arms of which
history can preserve the memory ! The traveller will stop and
say, ' It is here, it is here, in these superb positions, that an army
of 35,000 Austrians was routed by two French divisions' " (Pelet,
ii. 225). Lejeune, and most writers, blame Massena, referring
to the Emperor's letter of May ist in Pelet's Appendix (vol. ii.),
but not in the Correspondence.

Between April iyth and May 6th there is no letter to
Josephine preserved, but plenty to Eugene, and all severe not
so much for incapacity as for not keeping the Emperor advised

NOTES 283

of what was really happening. On May 6th he had received no
news for over a week.

The ball that touched me i.e. at Ratisbon. This was the second
time Napoleon had been wounded in battle the first time by an
English bayonet at Toulon. On the present occasion (April
23rd) Meneval seems to be the best authority : " Napoleon was
seated on a spot from which he could see the attack on the town
of Ratisbon. He was beating the ground with his riding-whip, 1
when a bullet, supposed to have been fired from a Tyrolean
carbine, struck him on the big toe (Marbot says * right ankle, 1
which is correct). The news of his wound spread rapidly 2 from
file to file, and he was forced to mount on horseback to show
himself to his troops. Although his boot had not been cut the
contusion was a very painful one," and in the first house he went
to for a moment's rest, he fainted. The next day, however,
he saw the wounded and reviewed his troops as usual, and
Lejeune has preserved a highly characteristic story, somewhat
similar to an experience of the Great Frederick's : " When he
had reached the seventh or eighth sergeant the Emperor noticed
a handsome young fellow with fine but stern-looking eyes and
of resolute and martial bearing, who made his musket ring again
as he presented arms. * How many wounds ? ' inquired the
Emperor. * Thirty,' replied the sergeant. * I am not asking you
your age,' said the Emperor graciously ; ' I am asking how many
wounds you have received.' Raising his voice, the sergeant
again replied with the one word, * Thirty.' Annoyed at this
reply, the Emperor turned to the colonel and said, l The man
does not understand ; he thinks I am asking about his age.'
' He understands well enough, sire,' was the reply ; l he has
been wounded thirty times.' ' What ! ' exclaimed the Emperor,
4 you have been wounded so often and have not got the cross ! '
The sergeant looked down at his chest, and seeing that the strap
of his cartridge-pouch hid his decoration, he raised it so as to
show the cross. He said to the Emperor, with great earnestness,
* Yes, I've got one ; but I've merited a dozen ! ' The Emperor,
who was always pleased to meet spirited fellows such as this,

1 " Gaily asking his staff to breakfast with him " (Pelet).

2 Lejeune says " some hours afterwards."

284 NOTES

pronounced the sacramental words, ' I make you an officer ! '
' That's right, Emperor,' said the new sub-lieutenant as he proudly
drew himself up ; ' you couldn't have done better ! ' '

No. 3.

Almost an exact duplicate of this letter goes on to Paris to
Cambaceres, as also of No. 4. The moment the Emperor had
heard that the Archduke had left Budweiss and was going by the
circuitous route via Krems to Vienna, he left Enns (May yth)
and reached Moelk the same evening. Seeing a camp of the
enemy on the other side of the river he sends Marbot with a
sergeant and six picked men to kidnap a few Austrians during
the night. The foray is successful, and three are brought before
Napoleon, one weeping bitterly. The Emperor asked the reason,
and found it was because he had charge of his master's girdle,
and would be thought to have robbed him. The Emperor had
him set free and ferried across the river, saying, " We must
honour and aid virtue wherever it shows itself." The next day he
started for Saint-Polten (already evacuated by Hiller). On his
way he saw the ruins of Dirnstein Castle, where Richard Coeur
de Lion had been imprisoned. The Emperor's comments were
interesting, but are now hackneyed, and are in most histories and
memoirs the parent source being Pelet (vol. ii. 246).

No. 4.

Schoenbrunn, situated a mile from Vienna, across the little
river of that name. Constant thus describes it : "Built in 1754
by the Empress Marie Therese, Schoenbrunn had an admirable
position ; its architecture, if defective and irregular, was yet of a
majestic, imposing type. To reach it one has to cross the bridge
across the little river Vienna. Four stone sphinxes ornament
this bridge, which is very large and well built. Facing the bridge
there is a handsome gate opening on to a large courtyard, spacious
enough for seven or eight thousand men to manoeuvre in. The
courtyard is in the form of a quadrangle surrounded by covered
galleries and ornamented with two large basins, in which are

NOTES 285

marble statues. On both sides of the gateway are two huge
obelisks of pink stone surmounted by gilt eagles.

" In German, Schoenbrunn means ' fair spring, 1 and the name
is derived from a fresh and sparkling spring which is situated in
the park. It wells forth from a little mound on which a tiny
grotto has been built, carved within so as to resemble stalactites.
Inside the grotto is a recumbent naiad holding a horn, from
which the water falls down into a marble basin. In summer this
little nook is deliciously cool.

" The interior of the palace merits nothing but praise. The
furniture is sumptuous, and in taste both original and dis-
tinguished. The Emperor's bedroom (the only place in the
whole edifice where there was a chimney) was upholstered in
Chinese lacquer-wood of great antiquity, yet the painting and
gilding were still quite fresh. The study adjoining was decorated
in a like way. All these apartments, except the bedroom, were
heated in winter by immense stoves, which sadly spoilt the effect
of the other furniture. Between the study and the bedroom
there was a strange apparatus called a * flying chair,' a sort of
mechanical seat, which had been constructed for the Empress
Marie Th^rese, and which served to transport her from one floor
to another, so that she was not obliged to go up and down the
staircase like every one else. The machine was worked in the
same way as at theatres, by cords, pulleys, and a counter-weight."
The Emperor drank a glassful from the beautiful spring, Schoen
Brunn, every morning. Napoleon found the people of Vienna
less favourable to the French than in 1805 ; and Count Rapp
told him "the people were everywhere tired of us and of our
victories." " He did not like these sort of reflections."

May 12th. On May I3th is dated the seventh bulletin of the
army of Germany, but none of the Bulletins 2 to 6 are in the
Correspondence. It states that on the loth he is before Vienna ;
the Archduke Maximilian refuses to surrender ; on the nth, at
9 P.M., the bombardment commences, and by daybreak the city
capitulated, and the Archduke fled. In his proclamation Napoleon
blamed him and the house of Austria for the bombardment.
"While fleeing from the city, their adieux to the inhabitants
have been murder and arson ; like Medea, they have with their

286 NOTES

own hands slain their children." The Viennese had sworn to
emulate their ancestors in 1683, and the heroes of Saragossa.
But Alison (than whom none can do the " big bow-wow " style
better) has a thoughtful comment on what really occurred. " All
history demonstrates that there is one stage of civilisation when
the inhabitants of a metropolis are capable of such a sacrifice in
defence of their country, and only one ; and that when passed,
it is never recovered. The event has proved that the Russians,
in 1812, were in the state of progress when such a heroic act was
possible, but that the inhabitants of Vienna and Paris had passed
it. Most certainly the citizens of London would never have
buried themselves under the ruins of the Bank, the Treasury, or
Leadenhall Street before capitulating to Napoleon." 1870 and
the siege of Paris modify this judgment ; but the Prussian bom-
bardment came only at the last, and barely reached the centre
of the city.

No. 5.

Ebersdorf. Written five days after the murderous battle of
Essling. Montgaillard, whose temper and judgment, as Alison
remarks, are not equal to his talents, cannot resist a covert sneer
(writing under the Bourbons) at Napoleon's generalship on this
occasion, although he adds a veneer by reminding us that Caesar
was defeated at Dyrrachium, Turenne at Marienthal, Eugene at
Denain, Frederick the Great at Kolin. The crossing of the river
was one which none but a victorious army, with another l about
to join it, could afford to risk, but which having effected, the
French had to make the best of. As Napoleon said in his tenth
bulletin, " The passage of a river like the Danube, in front of an
enemy knowing perfectly the localities, and having the inhabit-
ants on its side, is one of the greatest operations of war which it
is possible to conceive." The Danube hereabouts is a thousand
yards broad, and thirty feet deep. But the rising of its water
fourteen feet in three days was what no one had expected. At
Ebersdorf the first branch of the Danube was 500 yards across
to an islet, thence 340 yards across the main current to Lobau,
the vast island three miles broad and nearly three miles long,

1 Eugene's.

NOTES 287

separated from the farther bank by another 150 yards of Danube.
Bertrand had made excellent bridges, but on the 22nd the main
one was carried away by a floating mill.

Eugene . . . has completely performed the task. At the com-
mencement of the campaign the Viceroy was taken unprepared.
The Archduke John, exactly his own age (twenty-seven), was
burning with hatred of France. Eugene had the impudence,
with far inferior forces, to attack him at Sacile on April i6th,
but was repulsed with a loss (including prisoners) of 6000 men. It
is now necessary to retire, and the Archduke follows him leisurely,
almost within sight of Verona. By the end of April the news of
Eckmuhl has reached both armies, and by May ist the Austrians
are in full retreat. As usual, Napoleon has already divined their
altered plan of campaign, and writes from Braunau on this very
day, " I doubt not that the enemy may have retired before you ;
it is necessary to pursue him with activity, whilst coming to join
me as soon as possible vid Carinthia. The junction with my
army will probably take place beyond Bruck. It is probable I
shall be at Vienna by the loth to the i$th of May." It is the
successful performance of this task of joining him and of driving
back the enemy to which Napoleon alludes in the letter. The
Viceroy had been reproved for fighting at Sacile without his
cavalry, for his precipitous retreat on Verona ; and only two days
earlier the Emperor had told him that if affairs went worse he
was to send for the King of Naples (Murat) to take command.
"I am no longer grieved at the blunders you have committed,
but because you do not write to me, and give me no chance of
advising you, and even of regulating my own affairs here con-
formably." On May 8th Eugene defeats the Austrians on the
Piave, and the Archduke John loses nearly 10,000 men and 15
cannon. Harassed in their retreat, they regain their own terri-
tory on May I4th the day after the capitulation of Vienna.
Henceforward Eugene with part of the army, and Macdonald
with the rest, force their way past all difficulties, so that when the
junction with the Grand Army occurs at Bruck, Napoleon sends
(May 2yth) the following proclamation : "Soldiers of the army
of Italy, you have gloriously attained the goal that I marked out
for you. . . . Surprised by a perfidious enemy before your

288 NOTES

columns were united, you had to retreat to the Adige. But
when you received the order to advance, you were on the memor-
able fields of Arcola, and there you swore on the manes of our
heroes to triumph. You have kept your word at the battle of
the Piave, at the combats of San-Daniel, Tarvis, and Goritz ;
you have taken by assault the forts of Malborghetto, of Prediel,
and made the enemy's divisions, entrenched in Prewald and Lay-
bach, surrender. You had not then passed the Drave, and already
25,000 prisoners, 60 cannon, and 10 flags signalised your valour."
This is the proclamation alluded to in this letter to Josephine.

No. 6.

May 2()th. The date is wrong ; it should be May i Qth or
24th, probably the latter. It sets at rest the vexed question how
the Danube bridge was broken, and seems to confirm Marbot's
version of a floating mill on fire, purposely sent down by an
Austrian officer of Jagers, who won the rare order of Maria
Theresa thereby for performing more than his duty. Bertrand
gained his Emperor's lifelong admiration by his expedients at this
time. Everything had to be utilised anchors for the boat bridges
were made by filling fishermen's baskets with bullets ; and a naval
contingent of 1200 bluejackets from Antwerp proved invaluable.

No. 7.

/ have ordered the two princes to re-enter France. After so
critical a battle as the battle of Essling the Emperor's first
thoughts were concerning his succession had he been killed or
captured. He was therefore seriously annoyed that the heir-
apparent and his younger brother had both been taken out of the
country without his permission. He therefore writes the Queen
of Holland on May 28th from Ebersdorf : "My daughter, I am
seriously annoyed that you have left France without my per-
mission, and especially that you have taken my nephews out of
it. Since you are at Baden stay there, but an hour after re-
ceiving the present letter send my two nephews back to Strasburg
to be near the Empress they ought never to go out of France.

NOTES 289

It is the first time I have had reason to be annoyed with you, but
you should not dispose of my nephews without my permission,
you should realise what a bad effect it will have. Since the
waters at Baden are doing you good you can stay there a few
days, but, I repeat, lose not a moment in sending my nephews
back to Strasburg. If the Empress is going to the waters at
Plombieres they may accompany her there, but they must never
pass the bridge of Strasburg. Your affectionate father, Napoleon."
This letter passed through the hands of Josephine at Strasburg,
who was so unhappy at not having heard from her husband that
she opened it, and writes to Hortense on June ist when forward-
ing the letter : " I advise you to write to him immediately that
you have anticipated his intentions, and that your children are
with me : that you have only had them a few days in order to
see them, and to give them a change of air. The page who is
announced in Meneval's letter has not yet arrived. I hope he
will bring me a letter from the Emperor, and that at least he
will not be as vexed with me for your being at Baden. Your
children have arrived in excellent health."

The Duke of Montebello, who died this morning. The same day
he writes to La Marechale as follows :

" Ma Cousine^ The Marshal died this morning of the wounds
that he received on the field of honour. My sorrow equals yours.
I lose the most distinguished general in my whole army, my
comrade-in-arms for sixteen years, he whom I looked upon as my
best friend. His family and children will always have a special
claim on my protection. It is to give you this assurance that I
wished to write you this letter, for I feel that nothing can
alleviate the righteous sorrow that you will experience." The
following year he bestowed the highest honour on the Marechale
that she could receive.

Thus everything ends. The fourteenth bulletin says that the
end was caused by a pernicious fever, and in spite of Dr. Franck,
one of the best physicians in Europe. "Thus ends one of the
most distinguished soldiers France ever possessed." 1 He had
received thirteen wounds. The death of Lannes, and the whole

1 "What a loss for France and for me," groaned Napoleon, as he left his
dead friend.

T

290 NOTES

of the Essling period, is best told by Marbot. The loss of Lannes
was a more serious one to Napoleon than the whole 20,000 men
lost in this battle. The master himself has told us that " in war
men are nothing, a man is everything." They could be replaced :
Lannes never. Like Kleber and Desaix, he stood on a higher
platform than the older Marshals except Massena, who had
serious drawbacks, and who was the only one of Napoleon's best
generals that Wellington met in the Peninsula. Lannes had
always the ear of the Emperor, and always told him facts, not
flattery. His life had been specially crowded the last few weeks.
Rebuked by Napoleon for tardiness in supporting Massena at
Ebersberg, his life was saved by Napoleon himself when he was
thrown from his horse into the flooded Danube ; and finally, on
the field of Essling, he had under his orders Bessieres, the man
who had a dozen years before prevented his engagement to
Caroline Bonaparte by tittle-tattling to Napoleon.

No. 9.

Eugene won a battle. The remnant of the Archduke John's
army, together with Hungarian levies, in all 31,000 men, hold
the entrenched camp and banks of the Raab. Eugene defeats it,
with a loss of 6000 men, of whom 3700 were prisoners. Napoleon,
in commemoration of the anniversary of Marengo (and Fried-
land) calls it the little granddaughter of Marengo.

No. ii.

The curtain of the war's final act was rung up in the twenty-
fourth bulletin. " At length there exists no longer the Danube
for the French army ; General Count Bertrand has completed
works which excite astonishment and inspire admiration. For
800 yards over the most rapid river in the world he has, in a
fortnight, constructed a bridge of sixteen arches where three
carriages can pass abreast."

Wagram is, according to Pelet, the masterpiece of tactical
battles, while the five days' campaign (Thann to Ratisbon) was
one long strategic battle. Nevertheless, respecting Wagram, had

NOTES 291

the Archduke John, with his 40,000 men, turned up, as the
Archduke had more right to expect than Wellington had to
expect Blucher, Waterloo might have been antedated six years.

Lasalle was a prime favourite of Napoleon, for his sure eye
and active bearing. His capture of Stettin with two regiments
of hussars was specially noteworthy. Like Lannes he had a
strong premonition of his death. Marbot tells a story of how
Napoleon gave him 200,000 francs to get married with. A week
later the Emperor asked, "When is the wedding?" "As soon
as I have got some money to furnish with, sire." "Why, I gave
you 200,000 francs to furnish with last week ! What have you
done with them ? " "Paid my debts with half, and lost the other
half at cards." Such an admission would have ruined any other
general. The Emperor laughed, and merely giving a sharp tug
at Lasalle's moustache, ordered Duroc to give him another
200,000.

/ am sunburnt^ and, as he writes Cambaceres the same day,
tired out, having been sixty out of the previous seventy-two
hours in the saddle.

No. 12.

IVolkendorf. On July 8th he writes General Clarke : " I
have the headquarters lately occupied by the craven Francis II.,
who contented himself with watching the whole affair from the
top of a tower, ten miles from the scene of battle." On this
day also he dictated his twenty-fifth bulletin, of which the last
portion is so skilfully utilised in the last scene of Act V. in
L'Aiglon. One concluding sentence is all that can here be
quoted : " Such is the recital of the battle of Wagram, a decisive
and ever illustrious battle, where three to four hundred thousand
men, twelve to fifteen hundred guns, fought for great stakes on
a field of battle, studied, meditated on, and fortified by the enemy
for many months."

A surfeit of bile. His usual source of relief after extra work or
worry. In this case both. Bernadotte had behaved so badly at
Wagram, that Napoleon sent him to Paris with the stern rebuke,
" A bungler like you is no good to me." But as usual his anger
against an old comrade is short-lived, and he gives General Clarke

292 NOTES

permission to send Bernadotte to command at Antwerp against
the English.

No. 1 6.

My affairs follow my wishes. In Austria, possibly, but not
elsewhere. Prussia was seething with conspiracy, Russia with
ill-concealed hatred, the English had just landed in Belgium, and
Wellesley had just won Talavera. Souk was apparently no
longer trustworthy, Bernadotte a conceited boaster, who had to
be publicly snubbed (see The Order of the Day, August 5th, No.
15,614). Clarke and Cambaceres are so slow that Napoleon
writes them (August loth) "not to let the English come and
take you in bed." Fouche shows more energy than every one
else put together, calls out National Guards, and sends them off
to meet the northern invasion. The Minister of the Interior,
M. Cretet, had just died, and the Emperor had wisely put
Fouch6, the most competent man available, into his place for the
time being.

No. 17.

August 2ist. The list of birthday honours (August I5th)
had been a fairly long one, Berthier becoming Prince of Wagram,
Massena of Essling, Davoust of Eckmuhl. Marshals Oudinot
and Macdonald, Generals Clarke, Reynier, Gaudin and Cham-
pagny, as also M. Maret, became Dukes. Marmont had already,
says Savary, been made delirious with the joy of possessing a
baton.

No. 1 8.

Comedians. Napoleon found relaxation more after his own heart
in conversing with the savants of Germany, including the great
mechanic MSelzel, with whose automaton chess-player he played
a game. Constant gives a highly-coloured picture of the sequel :
" The automaton was seated before a chess-board, and the
Emperor, taking a chair opposite the figure, said laughingly,
4 Now, my friend, we'll have a game.' The automaton, bowing,
made signs for the Emperor to begin. After two or three moves
the Emperor made a wrong one on purpose ; the automaton

NOTES 293

bowed and replaced the piece on the board. His Majesty cheated
again, when the automaton bowed again, but this time took the
pawn. * Quite right,' said his Majesty, as he promptly cheated
for the third time. The automaton then shook its head, and
with one sweep of its hand knocked all the chessmen down."
Women . . . not having been presented. One woman, how-
ever, the mistress of Lord Paget, was quite willing to be presented
at a late hour and to murder him at the same time at least
so says Constant.

No. 19.

All this is very suspicious. For perfectly natural reasons Caesar's
wife was now above suspicion, but Caesar himself was not so.
Madame Walewski had been more than a month at Schoenbrunn,
and on May 4th, 1810, Napoleon has a second son born, who
fifty years later helped to edit his father's Correspondence.

No. 20.

Krems. He left here to review Davoust's corps on the field
of Austerlitz. Afterwards all the generals dined with him, and
the Emperor said, " This is the second time I come upon the
field of Austerlitz ; shall I come to it a third time ? " " Sire,"
replied one, " from what we see every day none dare wager that
you will not ! " It was this suppressed hatred that probably
determined the Emperor to dismantle the fortifications of Vienna,
an act that intensified the hatred of the Viennese more than his
allowing the poor people to help themselves to wood for the
winter in the imperial forests had mollified them.

My health has never been better. His reason for this remark is
found in his letter to Cambaceres of the same date, " They have
spread in Paris the rumour that I was ill, I know not why ; I
was never better." The reason of the rumour was that Corvi-
sart had been sent for to Vienna, as there had been an outbreak
of dysentery among the troops. This was kept a profound secret
from France, and Napoleon even allowed Josephine to think that
Corvisart had attended him (see Letter 22).

294 NOTES

No. 23.

October i^th. Two days before, Stabs, the young Tugend-
bundist and an admirer of Joan of Arc, had attempted to assassinate
Napoleon on parade with a carving-knife. The Emperor's letter
to Fouche of the I2th October gives the most succinct account :

" A youth of seventeen, son of a Lutheran minister of Erfurt,
sought to approach me on parade to-day. He was arrested by
the officers, and as the little man's agitation had been noticed,
suspicion was aroused ; he was searched, and a dagger found
upon him. I had him brought before me, and the little wretch,
who seemed to me fairly well educated, told me that he wished
to assassinate me to deliver Austria from the presence of the
French. I could distinguish in him neither religious nor political
fanaticism. He did not appear to know exactly who or what
Brutus was. The fever of excitement he was in prevented our
knowing more. He will be examined when he has cooled down
and fasted. It is possible that it will come to nothing. He will
be arraigned before a military commission.

" I wished to inform you of this circumstance in order that it
may not be made out more important than it appears to be. I
hope it will not leak out ; if it does, we shall have to represent
the fellow as a madman. If it is not spoken of at all, keep it to
yourself. The whole affair made no disturbance at the parade ;
I myself saw nothing of it.

" P.S. I repeat once more, and you understand clearly, that
there is to be no discussion of this occurrence."

Count Rapp saved the Emperor's life on this occasion, and
he, Savary, and Constant, all give detailed accounts. Their
narratives are a remarkable object-lesson of the carelessness of the
average contemporary spectator in recording dates. Savary gives
vaguely the end of September, Constant October I3th, and Count
Rapp October 23rd. In the present case the date of this other-
wise trivial incident is important, for careless historians assert that
it influenced Napoleon in concluding peace. In any case it
would have taken twenty such occurrences to affect Napoleon
one hairbreadth, and in the present instance his letter of October
loth to the Russian Emperor proves that the Peace was already
settled all but the signing.

NOTES 295

No. 24.

Stuttgard. General Rapp describes this journey as follows :
" Peace was ratified. We left Nymphenburg and arrived at
Stuttgard. Napoleon was received in a style of magnificence,
and was lodged in the palace together with his suite. The King
was laying out a spacious garden, and men who had been con-
demned to the galleys were employed to labour in it. The
Emperor asked the King who the men were who worked in
chains ; he replied that they were for the most part rebels who
had been taken in his new possessions. We set out on the
following day. On the way Napoleon alluded to the unfortunate
wretches whom he had seen at Stuttgard. * The King of Wiir-
temberg,' said he, ' is a very harsh man ; but he is very faithful.
Of all the sovereigns in Europe he possesses the greatest share of
understanding.'

" We stopped for an hour at Rastadt, where the Princess of
Baden and Princess Stephanie had arrived for the purpose of
paying their respects to the Emperor. The Grand Duke and
Duchess accompanied him as far as Strasburg. On his arrival in
that city he received despatches which again excited his displea-
sure against the Faubourg St. Germain. We proceeded to Fon-
tainebleau ; no preparations had been made for the Emperor's
reception ; there was not even a guard on duty."

This was on October 26th, at 10 A.M. Meneval asserts that
Napoleon's subsequent bad temper was feigned. In any case,
the meeting that moment so impatiently awaited was a very
bad quart cTheure for Josephine, accentuated doubtless by Fouche's
report of bad conduct on the part of the ladies of St. Germain.

SERIES M

No. i.

According to the Correspondence of Napoleon /., No. 16,058,
the date of this letter is December ijth. It seems, however,
possible that it is the letter written immediately after his arrival

296 NOTES

at Trianon, referred to by Meneval, who was, in fact, responsible
for it. Thiers, working from unpublished memoirs of Hortense
and Cambaceres, gives a most interesting account of the family
council, held at 9 P.M. on Friday, December I5th, at the Tuileries.
Constant also describes the scene, but gives the Empress credit
for showing the most self-command of those chiefly interested.
The next day, 1 1 A.M., Count Lacepede introduced the resolutions
of the family council to the Senatus-Consultus. 1 " It is to-day
that, more than ever before, the Emperor has proved that he
wishes to reign only to serve his subjects, and that the Empress
has merited that posterity should associate her name with that of
Napoleon." He pointed out that thirteen of Napoleon's prede-
cessors had broken the bonds of matrimony in order to fulfil
better those of sovereign, and that among these were the most
admired and beloved of French monarchs Charlemagne, Philip
Augustus, Louis XII. and Henry IV. This speech and the
Decrees (carried by 76 votes to 7) are found in the Monlteur of
December I7th, which Napoleon considers sufficiently authentic
to send to his brother Joseph as a full account of what occurred,
and with no further comment of his own but that it was the
step which he thought it his duty to take. The Decrees of the
Committee of the Senate were : "(i) The marriage contracted
between the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Josephine is
dissolved. (2) The Empress Josephine will retain the titles
and rank of a crowned Empress-Queen. 2 (3) Her jointure is
fixed at an annual revenue of 80,000 from the public treasury. 3
(4) Every provision which may be made by the Emperor in
favour of the Empress Josephine, out of the funds of the Civil
List, shall be obligatory on his successors." They added
separate addresses to the Emperor and Empress, and that to
the latter seems worthy of quotation : " Your Imperial and

1 By here subordinating himself to the Senate, the Emperor was preparing a
rod for his own back hereafter.

2 This clause gives considerable trouble to Lacepede and Regnauld. They
cannot even find a precedent whether, if they met, Josephine or Marie Louise
would take precedence of the other.

3 In addition to this, Napoleon gives her ,40,000 a year from his privy purse,
but keeps most of it back for the first two years to pay her I2O creditors. (For
interesting details see Masson, Josephine Repudiite.)

NOTES 297

Royal Majesty is about to make for France the greatest of sacri-
fices ; history will preserve the memory of it for ever. The
august spouse of the greatest of monarchs cannot be united to his
immortal glory by more heroic devotion. For long, Madame,
the French people has revered your virtues ; it holds dear that
loving kindness which inspires your every word, as it directs your
every action ; it will admire your sublime devotion ; it will
award for ever to your Majesty, Empress and Queen, the homage
of gratitude, respect, and love."

From a letter of Eugene's to his wife, quoted by Aubenas,
it appears that he, with his mother, arrived at Malmaison on
Saturday evening, 1 December i6th, and that it never ceased
raining all the next day, which added to the general depression,
in spite of, or because of, Eugene's bad puns. On the evening
of the 1 6th Napoleon was at Trianon, writing letters, and we
cannot think that if the Emperor had been to Malmaison on the
Sunday, 2 Eugene would have included this without comment in
the " some visits " they had received. The Emperor, as we see
from the next letter, paid Josephine a visit on the Monday.

No. 2.

The date of this is Tuesday, December igth, while No. 3 is
Wednesday the 2Oth.

Savary, always unpopular with the Court ladies, has now
nothing but kind words for Josephine. " She quitted the Court,
but the Court did not quit her ; it had always loved her, for never
had any one been so kind. . . . She never injured any one in the
time of her power ; she protected even her enemies " such as
Fouche at this juncture, and Lucien earlier. " During her stay
at Malmaison, the highroad from Paris to this chateau was only
one long procession, in spite of the bad weather ; every one
considered it a duty to present themselves at least once a week."

1 Which agrees with Madame d'Avrillon, who says they left the Tuileries at
2.30. Meneval says Napoleon left for Trianon a few hours later. Savary writes
erroneously that they left the following morning.

2 M. Masson seems to indicate a visit on December i6th, but does not give
his authority (Josephine Repudite, 1 14).

298 NOTES

Later, Marie Louise became jealous of this, and poor Josephine
had to go to the chateau of Navarre, and finally to leave France.

Queen of Naples. For some reason Napoleon had not wanted
this sister at Paris this winter, and had written her to this effect
from Schoenbrunn on October I5th. "If you were not so far
off, and the season so advanced, I would have asked Murat to
spend two months in Paris. But you cannot be there before
December, which is a horrible season, especially for a Nea-
politan." : But sister Caroline, " with the head of a Cromwell
on the shoulders of a pretty woman," was not easy to lead ; and
her husband had in consequence to bear the full weight of the
Emperor's displeasure. Murat's finances were in disorder, and
Napoleon wrote Champagny on December 3Oth to tell Murat
plainly that if the borrowed money was not returned to France,
it would be taken by main force. 2

The hunt. In pouring rain, in the forest of St. Germain.

No. 4.

Thursday, December 2ist, is the date.

The weather is very damp. Making Malmaison as unhealthy
as its very name warranted, and rendering more difficult the task
which Madame de Remusat had set herself of resting Josephine
mentally by tiring her physically. This typical toady Napo-
leon's Eavesdropper Extraordinary had arrived at Malmaison on
December i8th. She writes on the Friday (December 22nd),
beseeching her husband to advise the Emperor to moderate the
tone of his letters, especially this one (Thursday, December 2ist),
which had upset Josephine frightfully. Surely a more harmless
letter was never penned. But it is the Remusat all over ; she
lives in a chronic atmosphere of suspicion that all her letters are
read by the Emperor, and therefore, like Stevenson's nursery
rhymes, they are always written with " one eye on the grown-up
person " 3 on the grown-up person par excellence of France and the
century. The opening of letters by the government was doubt-

1 Correspondence of Napoleon /., No. 15,952.

2 New Letters of Napoleon, 1898.

3 Canon Ainger's comparison.

NOTES 299

less a blemish, which, however, Napoleon tried to neutralise by
entrusting the Post Office to his wife's relative, Lavalette, a man
whose ever-kind heart prevented this necessary espionage de-
generating into unnecessary interference with individual rights.

No. 5.

Date probably Sunday, December 24th.

King of Bavaria. Eugene had gone to Meaux to meet his
father-in-law, who had put off the " dog's humour" which he had
shown since the i6th.

No. 6.

Josephine had gone by special invitation to dine at the
little Trianon with Napoleon on Christmas Day, and Madame
d'Avrillon says she had a very happy day there. " On her
return she told me how kind the Emperor had been to her, that
he had kept her all the evening, saying the kindest things to her."
Aubenas says, " The repast was eaten in silence and gloom,"
but does not give his authority. Eugene, moreover, confirms
Madame d'Avrillon in his letter to his wife of December 26th :
" My dear Auguste, the Emperor came on Sunday to see the
Empress. Yesterday she went to Trianon to see him, and
stayed to dinner. The Emperor was very kind and amiable to
her, and she seemed to be much better. Everything points to
the Empress being more happy in her new position, and we
also." On this Christmas Day Napoleon had his last meal
with Josephine.

No. 7.

Tuileries. His return from Trianon to this, his official
residence, made the divorce more apparent to every one.

No. 8.

A house vacant in Paris. This seems a hint for Josephine.
She wishes to come to Paris, to the Elysee, and to try a little
diplomacy of her own in favour of the Austrian match, and she

300 NOTES

sends secretly to Madame de Metternich whose husband was
absent. Eugene more officially is approaching Prince Schwartzen-
berg, the ambassador. Josephine, like Talleyrand, wished to
heal the schism with Rome by an Austrian alliance ; while Cam-
baceres, foreseeing a war with the power not allied by marriage,
would have preferred the Russian match.

No. 9.

Thursday, January 4th.

Hortense. Louis had tried to obtain a divorce. Cambaceres
was ordered on December 22nd to summon a family council
(New Letters of Napoleon /., No. 234) ; but the wish of the
King was refused (verbally, says Louis in his Historical Docu-
ments of Holland)^ whereupon he refused to agree to Josephine's
divorce, but had to give way, and was present at what he calls
the farewell festival given by the city of Paris to the Empress
Josephine on January ist. The ecclesiastical divorce was pro-
nounced on January I2th.

No. 10.
January 5th. He duly visits Josephine the next day.

No. ii.

January yth is the date.

What charms your society has. Her repertoire of small talk and
scandal. He had also lost in her his Agenda, his Journal of Paris.
Still the visits are growing rarer. This long kind letter was
doubtless intended to be specially so, for two days later the clergy
of Paris pronounced the annulment of her marriage. This was
far worse than the pronouncement by the Senate in December,
as it meant to her that she and Napoleon had never been properly
married at all. The Emperor, who hated divorces, and especially
divorcees, had found great difficulty in breaking down the barriers
he had helped to build, for which purpose he had to be subordi-
nated to his own Senate, the Pope to his own bishops. Seven of
them allowed the annulment of the marriage of 1804 on account

NOTES 301

of (i) its secrecy, (2) the insufficiency of consent of the contract-
ing parties, and (3) the absence of the local parish priest at the
ceremony. The last reason was merely a technical one ; but
with respect to the first two it is only fair to admit that Napoleon
had undoubtedly, and perhaps for the only time in his life, been
completely " rushed," i.e. by the Pope and Josephine. The coro-
nation ceremony was waiting, and the Pope, secretly solicited by
Josephine, insisted on a religious marriage first and foremost.
The Pope suffered forthwith, but the other bill of costs was
not exacted till five years after date.

No. 12.

Wednesday, January I2th.

King of Westphalia. Madame Durand (Napoleon and Marie
Louise] says that, forced to abandon his wife (the beautiful and
energetic Miss Paterson) and child, Jerome " had vowed he
would never have any relations with a wife who had been thus
forced upon him." For three years he lavished his attentions
upon almost all the beauties of the Westphalian court. The
queen, an eye-witness of this conduct, bore it with mild and
forbearing dignity ; she seemed to see and hear nothing ; in
short, her demeanour was perfect. The king, touched by her
goodness, weary of his conquests, and repentant of his behaviour,
was only anxious for an opportunity of altering the state of things.
Happily the propitious moment presented itself. The right wing
of the palace of Cassel, in which the queen's apartments were
situated, took fire ; alarmed by the screams of her women the
queen awoke and sprang out of her bed, to be caught in the arms
of the king and carried to a place of safety. From that time
forth the royal couple were united and happy.

No. 13.

Saturday, January I3th.

Sensible. This was now possible after a month's mourning.
In the early days, according to Madame Remusat, her mind often
wandered, But Napoleon himself encouraged the Court to visit

302 NOTES

her, and the road to Malmaison was soon a crowded one. As
the days passed, however, life became sadly monotonous. Read-
ing palled on Josephine, as did whist and the daily feeding of her
golden pheasants and guinea-fowls. Remained " Patience " !
Was it the " General " she played or the " Emperor," or did she
find distraction in the " Demon " ?

No. 14.

D'Audenarde. Napoleon's handsome equerry, whom Mile.
d'Avrillon calls " un homme superbe." His mother was Josephine's
favourite dame du palats. Madame Lalaing, Viscountess d'Aude-
narde, nie Peyrac, was one of the old regime who had been ruined
by the Revolution.

No. 1 6.

Tuesday, January 23rd.

On January 2ist a Privy Council was summoned to approve
of Marie Louise as their " choice of a consort, who may give
an heir to the throne " (Thiers). Cambaceres, Fouche, and
Murat wished for the Russian princess ; Lebrun, Cardinal Fesch,
and King Louis for a Saxon one ; but Talleyrand, Champagny,
Maret, Berthier, Fontanes were for Austria.

No. 17.
Sunday, January 28th.

No. 1 8.

Josephine had heard she was to be banished from Paris, and
so had asked to come to the Elysee to prove the truth or other-
wise of the rumour.

L'Elysle. St. Amand gives the following interesting prtcis :
"Built by the Count d'Evreux in 1718, it had belonged in suc-
cession to the Marchioness de Pompadour, to the financier
Beaujon, a Croesus of the eighteenth century, and to the Duchesse
de Bourbon. Having, under the Revolution, become national
property, it had been hired by the caterers of public entertain-

NOTES 303

ments, who gave it the name of L'Elysde. In 1803 it became
the property of Murat, who, becoming King of Naples, ceded it
to Napoleon in 1808. Here Napoleon signed his second abdica-
tion, here resided Alexander I. in 1815, and here Josephine's
grandson effected the Coup cTEtat (1851). When the Senatus-
Consultus fixed the revenue of Josephine, Napoleon not only
gave her whatever rights he had in Malmaison, viz., at least 90
per cent, of the total cost, but the palace of the Elysee, its gardens
and dependencies, with the furniture then in use." The latter
residence was, however, for her life only.

No. 19.

February 3rd is the date.

U Ely see. After the first receptions the place is far worse
than Malmaison. Schwartzenberg, Talleyrand, the Princess
Pauline, Berthier, even her old friend Cambaceres are giving
balls, 1 while the Emperor goes nearly every night to a theatre.
The carriages pass by the Elysee, but do not stop. " It is as if
the palace were in quarantine, with the yellow flag floating. 1 '

No. 20.

Bessiere? country-house. M. Masson says Grignon, but unless
this house is called after the chateau of that name in Provence,
he must be mistaken.

No. 21.

Rambouillet. He had taken the Court with him, and was
there from February igth to the 23rd, the date of this letter.
While there he had been in the best of humours. On his return
he finds it necessary to write his future wife and to her father
and to pen a legible letter to the latter gives him far more trouble
than winning a battle against the Austrians, if not assisted by
General Danube.

Adieu. Sick and weary, Josephine returns to Malmaison,

1 See Baron Lejeune for an interesting account of a chess quadrille at a dance
given by the Italian Minister, Marescalchi,

3 o 4 NOTES

Friday, March gth, and even this is not long to be hers, for the
new Empress is almost already on her way. The marriage at
Vienna took place on March nth, with her uncle Charles, 1 the
hero of Essling, for Napoleon's proxy; on the I3th she leaves
Vienna, and on the 23rd reaches Strasbourg. On the 2jth she
meets Napoleon at Compiegne, spends three days with him in
the chateau there, and arrives at St. Cloud on April ist, where
the civil marriage is renewed, followed by the triumphal entry
into Paris, and the religious ceremony on April 2nd. This day
Josephine reaches the chateau of Navarre.

SERIES N

Navarre, on the site of an old dwelling of Rollo the Sea-King,
was built by Jeanne of France, Queen of Navarre, Countess of
Evreux. At the time of the Revolution it belonged to the
Dukes of Bouillon, and was confiscated. In February 1810,
Napoleon determined to purchase it, and on March loth in-
structed his secretary of state, Maret, to confer the Duchy of
Navarre, purchased by letters patent, on Josephine and her heirs
male. The old square building was, however, utterly unfit to
be inhabited : not a window would shut, there was neither
paper nor tapestry, all the wainscoting was rotten, draughts and
damp everywhere, and no heating apparatus. 2 What solace to
know its beautiful situation, its capabilities ? No wonder if her
household, banished to such a place, sixty-five miles from the
" capital of capitals," should rebel, and secessions headed by Madame
Ney become for a time general. Whist and piquet soon grow
stale in such a house and with such surroundings, and even
trictrac with the old bishop of Evreux becomes tedious.

1 On this occasion Baron Lejeune sees the Archduke Charles, and remarks :
"There was nothing in his quiet face with its grave and gentle expression, or in
his simple, modest, unassuming manner, to denote the mighty man of war ; but
no one who met his eyes could doubt him to be a genius."

2 " This gloomy and forsaken chateau," says St. Amand, " whose only attraction
was the half- forgotten memory of its vanished splendours, was a fit image of the
woman who came to seek sanctuary there."

NOTES 305

Eugene as usual brings sunshine in his path, and helps to dispel
the gloom caused by the idle gossip imported from Paris that
Josephine is not to return to Malmaison, and the like.

No. i.

This was Josephine's second letter, says D'Avrillon, the first
being answered viva voce by Eugene.

To Malmaison. Napoleon had promised Josephine permission
to return to Malmaison, and would not recant : his new wife
was, however, very jealous of Josephine, and very much hurt at
her presence at Malmaison. Napoleon managed to be away
from Paris for six weeks after Josephine's arrival at Malmaison.

No. i A.

// is written in a bad style. M. Masson, however, is loud in its
praises, and adds, " Voila done le protocol du tutoiement " re-
established between them in spite of the second marriage, and
their correspondence re-established on the old terms.

No. 2.

This letter seems to have been taken by Eugene to Paris,
and thence forwarded to the Emperor with a letter from that
Prince in which he enumerates Josephine's suggestions and
wishes (i) that she will not go to Aix-la-Chapelle if other waters
are suggested by Corvisart ; (2) that after stopping a few days
at Malmaison she will go in June for three months to the baths,
and afterwards to the south of France ; visit Rome, Florence,
and Naples incognito, spend the winter at Milan, and return to
Malmaison and Navarre in the spring of 1811 ; (3) that in her
absence Navarre shall be made habitable, for which fresh funds
are required ; (4) that Josephine wishes her cousins the Taschers
to marry, one a relative of King Joseph, the other the Princess
Amelie de la Leyen, niece of the Prince Primate. To this
Napoleon replies from Compiegne, April 26th, that the De
Leyen match with Louis Tascher may take place, 1 but that he

1 He endows the husband with 4000 a year, and the title of Count Tascher.

U

306 NOTES

will not interest himself in the other (Henry) Tascher, who is
giddy-headed and bad-tempered. " I consent to whatever the
Empress does, but I will not confer any mark of my regard on a
person who has behaved ill to me. I am very glad that the
Empress likes Navarre. I am giving orders to have .12,000
which I owe her for 1810, and .12,000 for 1811 advanced to
her. She will then have only the ^80,000 from the public
treasury to come in. ... She is free to go to whatever spa she
cares for, and even to return to Paris afterwards." He thinks,
however, she would be happier in new scenes which they had
never visited together, as they had Aix-la-Chapelle. If, however,
the last are the best she may go to them, for " what I desire above
all is that she may keep calm, and not allow herself to be excited
by the gossip of Paris." This letter goes far to soothe the poor
chatelaine of Navarre.

No. 2A.

Two letters. The other, now missing, may have some refer-
ence to the pictures to which he refers in his letter to Fouche
the next day. " Is it true that engravings are being published
with the title of Josephine Beauharnais nee La Pagerie ? If this is
true, have the prints seized, and let the engravers be punished "
(New Letters, No. 253).

No. 3.

Probably written from Boulogne about the 25th. His
northern tour with Marie Louise had been very similar to one
taken in 1804, but his entourage found the new bride very cold
and callous compared to Josephine. Leaving Paris on April
29th Napoleon's Correspondence till June is dated Laeken (April
3Oth) ; Antwerp (May 3rd) ; Bois-le-Duc ; Middleburg, Gand,
Bruges, Ostend (May 2Oth) ; Lille, Boulogne, Dieppe, Le
Havre, Rouen (May 3ist). He takes the Empress in a canal
barge from Brussels to Malines and himself descends the
subterranean vault of the Escaut-Oise canal, between St.
Quentin and Cambrai. He is at St. Cloud on June 2nd.

Josephine has felt his wanderings less, as she has the future

NOTES 307

Emperor, her favourite grandson, with her, the little Oui-Oui,
as she calls him, and for whom the damp spring weather of
Holland was dangerous. She was also at Malmaison from the
middle of May to June i8th. The original collection of
Letters (Didot Freres, 1833) heads the letter correctly to the
Empress Josephine at Malmaison^ but the Correspondence^ pub-
lished by order of Napoleon III., gives it erroneously, to the
Empress Josephine, at the Chateau of Navarre (No. 16,537).

/ will come to see you. He comes for two hours on June I3th,
and makes himself thoroughly agreeable. Poor Josephine is
light-headed with joy all the evening after. The meeting of
the two Empresses is, however, indefinitely postponed, and
Josephine had now no further reason to delay her departure.
Leaving her little grandson Louis behind, she travels under the
name of the Countess d'Arberg, and she is accompanied by
Madame d'Audenarde and Mile, de Mackau, who left the
Princess Stephanie to come to Navarre. M. Masson notes that
Madame de Remusat needs the Aix waters, and will rejoin
Josephine (within a week), under pretext of service, and thus
obtain her cure gratuitously. They go via Lyons and Geneva
to Aix-les-Bains. M. Masson, who has recently made a careful
and complete study of this period, describes the daily round.
" Josephine, on getting out of bed, takes conscientiously her
baths and douches, then, as usual, lies down again until de-
jeuner, 1 1 A.M., for which the whole of the little Court are
assembled at The Palace wherever she lives, and however
squalid the dwelling-place, her abode always bears this name.
Afterwards she and her women-folk ply their interminable
tapestry, while the latest novel or play (sent by Barbier from
Paris) is read aloud. And so the day passes till five, when they
dress for dinner at six ; after dinner a ride. At nine the Empress's
friends assemble in her room, Mile, de Mackau sings ;.at eleven
every one goes to bed." This programme, however, varies with
the weather. Here is St. Amand's version (Dernieres Annees de
I' Imperatrice Josephine, p. 237) : "A little reading in the morning,
an airing (le promenade] afterwards, dinner at eight on account of
the heat, games afterwards, and some little music ; so passed
existence."

308 NOTES

No. 4.

July 8M. On July 5th, driving along the Chambery road,
Josephine met the courier with a letter from Eugene describing
the terrible fire at Prince Schwartzenberg's ball, where the
Princess de la Leyen, mother of young Taschre's bride-elect,
was burnt. It is noteworthy that the Emperor makes no
allusion to the conflagration. As, however, this is the first
letter since the end of May, others may have been lost or
destroyed.

You will have seen Eugene i.e. on his way to Milan, who
arrived at Aix on July loth. He had just been made heir to
the Grand Duchy of Frankfort a broad hint to him and to
Europe that Italy would be eventually united to France under
Napoleon's dynasty. This was the nadir of the Beauharnais
family Josephine repudiee, Hortense unqueened and unwed, 1
and Eugene's expectations dissipated, and all within a few
short months. Eugene had left his wife ill at Geneva, whither
Josephine goes to visit her the next day, duly reporting her
visit to Napoleon in her letter of July I4th (see No. 5). Geneva
was always the home of the disaffected, and so the Empress had
to be specially tactful, and the De Remusat reports : " She
speaks of the Emperor as of a brother, of the new Empress
as the one who will give children to France, and if the rumours
of the latter's condition be correct, I am certain she will be
delighted about it."

That unfortunate daughter is coming to France i.e. to reside when
she is not at St. Leu (given to her by Napoleon) or at the waters.
On the present occasion she has been at Plombieres a month or
more. On July loth Napoleon instructs the Countess de
Boubers to bring the Grand Duke of Berg to Paris, "whom
he awaits with impatience " (Brotonne, 625).

No. 5.

The conduct of the King of Holland has worried me. This was
in March, and by May the crisis was still more acute and

1 " Une epouse sans epoux, et une reine sans royaume " St. Amand.

NOTES 309

Napoleon's patience exhausted. On May 20th he writes :
" Before all things be a Frenchman and the Emperor's brother,
and then you may be sure you are in the path of the true
interests of Holland. Good sense and policy are necessary to the
government of states, not sour unhealthy bile." And three days
later : " Write me no more of your customary twaddle ; three
years now it has been going on, and every instant proves its
falsehood ! This is the last letter I shall ever write you in my
life."

Louis at one time determined on war, and rather than
surrender Amsterdam, to cut the dykes. The Emperor hears
of this, summons his brother, and practically imprisons him until
he countermands the defence of Amsterdam.

On July ist Louis abdicated and fled to Toeplitz in
Bohemia. Napoleon is terribly grieved at the conduct of his
brother, who would never realise that the effective Continental
blockade was Napoleon's last sheet-anchor to force peace upon
England.

No. 6.

To die in a lake i.e. the Lake of Bourget, shut in by the
Dent du Chat, where a white squall had nearly capsized the
sailing boat. Josephine had been on July 26th to visit the
abbey Haute-Combe, place of sepulture of the Princes of Savoy,
and the storm had overtaken her on the return voyage.

No. 8.

Paris, this Friday. A very valuable note of M. Masson
(Josephine Repudiee, 198) enables us to fix this letter at its correct
date. He says : " It has to do with the exile of Madame de

la T (viz., the Princess Louis de la Tremoille), which takes

place on September 28th, 1810, and this 28th September is also
a Friday : there is also the question of Mile, de Mackau being
made a baroness " (and this lady had not joined the Court of

Josephine till May 1810) ; "lastly, the B mentioned therein

can only be Barante, the Prefect, whose dismissal (from Geneva)

3 io NOTES

almost coincides with this letter." It may be added that the La
Tremoille family was one of the oldest in France, allied with
the Condes, and consequently with the Bourbons. Barante's
fault had been connivance at the letters and conduct of Madame
de Stael.

No. 9.

The only suitable places . . . are either Milan or Navarre.
Milan had been her own suggestion conveyed by Eugene, but
Napoleon, two months later, had told her she could spend the
winter in France, and in spite of danger signals (" inspired by
diplomacy rather than devotion " J ) from Madame de Remusat (in
her fulsome and tedious " despatch " sent from Paris in September,
and probably inspired by the Emperor himself) she manages to
get to Navarre, and even to spend the first fortnight of
November at Malmaison. Before leaving Switzerland Josephine
refuses to risk an interview with Madame de Stael. "In the
first book she publishes she will not fail to report our con-
versation, and heaven knows how many things she will make
me say that I have never even thought of."

No. 10.

In spite of the heading Josephine was at Malmaison on this
day, and Napoleon writes Cambaceres : " My cousin, the
Empress Josephine not leaving for Navarre till Monday or
Tuesday, I wish you to pay her a visit. You will let me
know on your return how you find her" (Brotonne, 721). The
real reason is to hasten her departure, and she gets to Navarre
November 22nd (Thursday).

The Empress progresses satisfactorily. Napoleon writes to this
effect to her father, the Emperor of Austria, on the same day :
"The Empress is very well. ... It is impossible that the wife
for whom I am indebted to you should be more perfect. More-
over, I beg your Majesty to rest assured that she and I are equally
attached to you."

1 Aubenas,

NOTES 311

No. i.

The New Tear. On this occasion, instead of her usual gifts
(etrennes) she organised a lottery of jewels, of which Madame
Ducrest gives a full account. Needless to say, Josephine worked
the oracle so that every one got a suitable gift including the
old Bishop (see next note).

More women than men. The Bishop of Evreux (Mgr.
Bourlier) was the most welcome guest. He amused Josephine,
and although eighty years of age, could play trictrac and talk
well on any subject. Madame de Remusat wrote her husband
concerning him, " We understand each other very well, he
and I."

Keep well. At Navarre Josephine lost her headaches, and put
on flesh.

No. 2.

There is a full account of the birth of the King of Rome in
Napoleon's letter to the Emperor of Austria on March 20 (No.
17,496). The letter of this date to Josephine is missing, but is
referred to by D'Avrillon. It began, "My dear Josephine, I
have a son. I am au comble de bonheur."

Eugene. Josephine much appreciated this allusion. " Is it
possible," she said, " for any one to be kinder than the Emperor,
and more anxious to mitigate whatever might be painful for me
at the present moment, if I loved him less sincerely ? This
association of my son with his own is well worthy of him who,
when he likes, is the most fascinating of all men." She gave a
costly ring to the page who brought the letter.

On the previous day Eugene had arrived at Navarre, sent by
the Emperor. " You are going to see your mother, Eugene ; tell
her I am sure that she will rejoice more than any one at my
happiness. I should have already written to her if I had not been
absorbed by the pleasure of watching my boy. The moments I
snatch from his side are only for matters of urgent necessity.

312 NOTES

This event, I shall acquit myself of the most pleasant of them all
by writing to Josephine."

No. 4.

Written in November 1811.

As fat as a good Normandy farmeress. Madame d'Abrantes,
who saw her about this time, writes : " I observed that Josephine
had grown very stout 1 since the time of my departure for Spain.
This change was at once for the better and the worse. It
imparted a more youthful appearance to her face ; but her slender
and elegant figure, which had been one of her principal attrac-
tions, had entirely disappeared. She had now decided ernbon-
point^ and her figure had assumed that matronly air which we
find in the statues of Agrippina, Cornelia, &c. Still, however,
she looked uncommonly well, and she wore a dress which became
her admirably. Her judicious taste in these matters contributed
to make her appear young much longer than she otherwise would.
The best proof of the admirable taste of Josephine is the marked
absence of elegance shown by Marie Louise, though both
Empresses employed the same milliners and dressmakers, and
Marie Louise had a large sum allotted for the expenses of her
toilet."

St. Amand says that 1 8 1 1 was for Josephine a happy year,
compared to those which followed.

SERIES P

No. i.

Written from Konigsberg (M. Masson, in Josephine Repudiee^
says Dantzig ; but on June nth Napoleon writes to Eugene, " I
shall be at Konigsberg to-morrow," where his correspondence
is dated from henceforward). A day or two later he writes the

1 Mile. d'Avrillon says that during the Swiss voyage Josephine found it
desirable, for the first time, to "wear whalebone in her corsets,"

NOTES 313

King of Rome's governess that he trusts to hear soon that the
fifteen months old child has cut his first four teeth.

No. 2.

Gumbinneri) June 2Oth. From this place and on this date goes
forth the first bulletin of the Grande Armle. It gives a rhuml of
the causes of the war, dating from the end of 1810, when English
influence again gained ascendency.

On July 2Qth he writes Hortense from Witepsk to congratu-
late her on her eldest son's recovery from an illness. A week
later he writes his librarian for some amusing novels new
ones for choice, or old ones that he has not read or good
memoirs.

Josephine meanwhile has permission to go to Italy. Owing
to her grandson's illness she defers starting till July i6th.
Through frightful weather she reaches Milan via Geneva on July
28th, and has a splendid reception. On the 29th she writes to
Hortense : " I have found the three letters from Eugene, the last
one dated the I3th ; his health is excellent. He still pursues the
Russians, without being able to overtake them. It is generally
hoped the campaign may be a short one. May that hope be
realised ! " Two days later she announces the birth of Eugene's
daughter Amelia, afterwards Empress of Brazil. Towards the
end of August Josephine goes to Aix and meets the Queen of
Spain with her sister Desiree Bernadotte, the former " kind and
amiable as usual," the latter " very gracious to me " rather a
new experience. From Aix she goes to Pregny-la-Tour, on the
Lake of Geneva, and shocks the good people in various ways, says
M. Masson, especially by innuendoes against Napoleon ; and he
adds, " if one traces back to their source the worst calumnies
against the morals of the Emperor, it is Josephine that one
encounters there." She gets to Malmaison October 24th. Soon
after his return from Moscow Napoleon pays her a visit, and
about this time she begins to see the King of Rome, whose
mother has always thought more of her daily music and draw-
ing lessons than of whether she was making her son happy
or not,

3H NOTES

1812 closed in gloom, but 1813 was in itself terribly ominou
to so superstitious a woman as Josephine. Thirteen is always
unlucky, and moreover the numbers of 1813 add up to 13 ; also
the doom-dealing year began on a Friday. Every one felt the
hour approaching. As Napoleon said at St. Helena : " The star
grew pale ; I felt the reins slipping from my hand, and I could
do no more. A thunderbolt could alone have saved us, and
every day, by some new fatality or other, our chances diminished.
Sinister designs began to creep in among us ; fatigue and dis-
couragement had won over the majority ; my lieutenants became
lax, clumsy, careless, and consequently unfortunate ; they were
no longer the men of the commencement of the Revolution, nor
even of the time of my good fortune. The chief generals were
sick of the war ; I had gorged them too much with my high
esteem, with too many honours and too much wealth. They
had drunk from the cup of pleasure, and wished to enjoy peace
at any price. The sacred fire was quenched."

Up to August Fortune had smiled again upon her favourite.
With conscripts for infantry and without cavalry he had won
Lutzen, Bautzen, and Dresden ; and even so late as September
Byron was writing that " bar epilepsy and the elements he would
back Napoleon against the field." But treachery and incompe-
tence had undermined the Empire, and Leipsic (that battle of
giants, where 110,000 soldiers were killed and wounded) made
final success hopeless. In 1814 his brothers Lucien and Louis
rallied to him, and Hortense was for the only time proud of her
husband. She thinks if he had shown less suspicion and she less
pride they might have been happy after all. " My husband is a
good Frenchman ... he is an honest man." Meanwhile,
Talleyrand is watching to guide the coup de grace. Napoleon
makes a dash for Lorraine to gather his garrisons and cut off the
enemy's supplies. The Allies hesitate and are about to follow
him, as per the rules of war. Talleyrand, the only man who
could ever divine Napoleon, sends them the message, " You can
do everything, and you dare nothing; dare therefore once!"
Hortense is the only man left in Paris, and in vain she tries to
keep Marie Louise, whose presence would have stimulated the
Parisians to hold the Allies at bay. It is in vain. Unlike Prussia

NOTES 315

or Austria who fought for months, or Spain who fought for
years, after their capitals were taken :

" Like Nineveh, Carthage, Babylon and Rome,
France yields to the conqueror, vanquished at home."

After Marmont's betrayal Napoleon attempts suicide, and
when he believes death imminent sends a last message to
Josephine by Caulaincourt, " You will tell Josephine that my
thoughts were of her before life departed."

It was on Monday, May 23rd, that Josephine's illness com-
menced, after receiving at dinner the King of Prussia and his
sons (one afterwards Wilhelm der Greise, first Emperor of Ger-
many). Whether the sore throat which killed her was a
quinsy or diphtheria l is difficult to prove, but the latter seems
the more probable. Corvisart, who was himself ill and unable
to attend, told Napoleon that she died of grief and worry.
Before leaving for the Waterloo campaign Napoleon visited
Malmaison, and there, as Lord Rosebery reminds us, allowed
his only oblique reproach to Marie Louise to escape him :
" Poor Josephine. Her death, of which the news took me by
surprise at Elba, was one of the most acute griefs of that fatal
year, 1814. She had her failings, of course ; but she y at any rate,
would never have abandoned me"

1 The same question may be asked respecting the death of Montaigne.

APPENDIX (i)

A REPUTED POEM BY NAPOLEON I.

LE CHIEN, LE LAPIN, ET LE CHASSEUR.
FABLE. Composee a I' age de 13 ans, par NAPOLEON I.

Cesar, chien d'arret renomme,

Mais trop enfle de son merite,

Tennait arrete dans son gite
Un malheureux lapin de peur inanime.
" Rends-toi ! " lui cria-t-il, d'une voix de tonerre
Qui fit au loin trembler les peuplades des bois.
" Je suis Cesar, connu par ses exploits,
Et dont le nom remplit toute la terre."

A ce grand nom, Jeannot Lapin,
Recommandant a Dieu son ame penitente,

Demande d'une voix tremblante :

" Tres-serenissime matin,
Si je me rends quel sera mon destin ? "
" Tu mourras." " Je mourrai ! " dit la bete innocente.
" Et si je fuis ? " " Ton trepas est certain."
" Quoi ! " reprit 1' animal qui se nourrit de thym,
" Des deux cotes je dois perdre la vie !

Que votre auguste seigneurie
Veuille me pardonner, puisqu'il me faut mourir,

Si j'ose tenter de m'enfuir."
II dit, et fuit en heros de garenne.
Caton 1'aurait blame 1 ; je dis qu'il n'eut pas tort.

Car le chasseur le voit a peine
Qu'il 1'ajuste, le tire et le chien tombe mort
Que dirait de ceci notre bon La Fontaine ?

Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera.

I'approuve fort cette me'thode-la,
316

APPENDICES 317

APPENDIX (2)
GENEALOGY OF THE BONAPARTE FAMILY

MANY more or less fictitious genealogies of the Bonapartes have been
published, some going back to mythical times. The first reliable record,
however, seems to be that of a certain Bonaparte of Sarzana, in Northern
Italy, an imperfal notary, who was living towards the end of the thirteenth
century, and from whom both the Corsican and the Trevisan or Floren-
tine Bonapartes claim their origin. From him in direct line was descended
Francois de Sarzana, who was sent to Corsica in 1509 to fight for the
Republic of Genoa. His son Gabriel, having sold his patrimony in
Italy, settled in Ajaccio, where he bore the honourable title of Messire,
and where, being left a widower, he assumed the tonsure and died Canon
of the cathedral.

From him an unbroken line of Bonapartes, all of whom in turn were
elected to the dignity of Elder of Ajaccio, brings us to Charles Bonaparte
Napoleon, father of the Emperor.

APPENDIX (3)

REPUTED LETTERS OF NAPOLEON TO JOSE-
PHINE. TAKEN FROM THE MEMOIRS OF
MADAME DUCREST.

THE author asked the advice of Monsieur Frederic Masson about these
Letters, to which he at once received the courteous reply, " II faut
absolument rejeter les Lettres publiees par Regnault Varin l et reproduites
par Georgette Ducrest ; pas une n'est authentique." No one who has
read much of Napoleon's correspondence can in fact believe for a moment
in their authenticity. They are interesting, however, as showing the sort
of stuff which went to form our grandfathers' fallacies about the relations
of Napoleon and Josephine. Madame Ducrest occasionally played and

1 Memoir es et Correspondance de F Imperatrice Josephine, par /. B. J. Innocert
Philaddphe Regnault Varin. Paris, 1820, 8. This book is not in the British
Museum Catalogue.

3 i 8 APPENDICES

sang for Josephine after the divorce. Her father was a nephew of
Madame de Genlis. Madame Ducrest married a musical composer,
M. Bochsa, the then celebrated author of Dansomanie and Noccs de
Gamache. He afterwards deserted her, and her voice having completely
failed, she was compelled to write her Memoirs to earn sustenance thereby.
Of these Memoirs M. Masson has said, 1 that " in the midst of apocryphal
documents, uncontroverted anecdotes, impossible situations, are yet to be
found some first-hand personal observations."

No. I. 1796.
FROM GENERAL BONAPARTE TO HIS WIFE.

My first laurel, my love, must be for my country ; my second shall be for
you. While beating Alvinzi I thought of France; when I had defeated
him I thought of you. Your son will present to you a standard which
he received from Colonel Morbach, whom he made prisoner with his own
hands. Our Eugene, you see, is worthy of his father ; and I trust you
do not think me an unworthy successor of the great and unfortunate
general, under whom 1 should have been proud to learn to conquer. I
embrace you. BONAPARTE.

No. 2. 1804.
To GENERAL BONAPARTE.

I have read over your letter, my dear, perhaps for the tenth time,
and I must confess that the astonishment it caused me has given way only
to feelings of regret and alarm. You wish to raise up the throne of
France, and that, not for the purpose of seating upon it those whom the
Revolution overthrew, but to place yourself upon it. You say, how
enterprising, how grand and, above all, useful is this design ; but I should
say, how many obstacles oppose its execution, what sacrifices will its
accomplishment demand, and when realised, how incalculable will be its
results ? But let us suppose that your object were already attained, would
you stop at the foundation of the new empire ? That new creation, being
opposed by neighbouring states, would stir up war with them and perhaps
entail their ruin. Their neighbours, in their turn, will not behold it
without alarm or without endeavouring to gratify their revenge by check-
ing it. And at home, how much envy and dissatisfaction will arise ; how

1 Josephine Imptratrict et Reine, Paris, 1899.

APPENDICES 319

many plots must be put down, how many conspiracies punished ! Kings
will despise you as an upstart, subjects will hate you as an usurper, and
your equals will denounce you as a tyrant. None will understand the
necessity of your elevation ; all will attribute it to ambition or pride.
You will not want for slaves to crouch beneath your authority until,
seconded by some more formidable power, they rise up to oppose you ;
happy will it be if poison or the poignard ! . . . But how can a wife, a
friend dwell on these dreadful anticipations !

This brings my thoughts back to myself, about whom I should care
but little were my personal interests alone concerned. But will not the
throne inspire you with the wish to contract new alliances ? Will you
not seek to support your power by new family connections ? Alas ! what-
ever those connections may be, will they compensate for those which were
first knit by corresponding fitness, and which affection promised to per-
petuate ? My thoughts linger on the picture which fear may I say love,
traces in the future. Your ambitious project has excited my alarm ;
console me by the assurance of your moderation.

No. 3. December 1809.
To THE EMPEROR.

My forebodings are realised ! You have just pronounced the word
which separates us for ever ; the rest is nothing more than mere formality.
Such, then, is the result, I shall not say of so many sacrifices (they were
light to me, since they had you for their object), but of an unbounded
friendship on my part and of the most solemn oaths on yours ! It would
be a consolation for me if the state which you allege as your motive were
to repay my sacrifice by justifying your conduct ! But that public con-
sideration which you urge as the ground for deserting me is a mere
pretence on your part. Your mistaken ambition has ever been, and will
continue to be, the guide of all your actions, a guide which has led you
to conquests and to the assumption of a crown, and is now driving you
on to disasters and to the brink of a precipice.

You speak of the necessity of contracting an alliance, of giving an
heir to your empire, of founding a dynasty ! But with whom are you
about to form an alliance ? with the natural enemy of France, that artful
house of Austria, whose detestation of our country has its rise in its
innate feelings, in its system, in the laws of necessity. Do you believe
that this hatred, of which she has given us such abundant proof, more

320 APPENDICES

particularly for the last fifty years, has not been transferred by her from
the kingdom of France to the French empire ? That the children of
Maria Theresa, that skilful sovereign, who purchased from Madame de
Pompadour the fatal treaty of 1756, which you never mention without
shuddering ; do you imagine, I repeat, that her posterity, when inherit-
ing her power, has not also inherited her spirit ? I am merely repeating
what you have so often said to me ; but at that time your ambition was
satisfied with humbling a power which you now find it convenient to
restore to its former rank. Believe me, as long as you shall exercise a
sway over Europe, that power will be submissive to you ; but beware of
reverses of fortune.

As to the necessity of an heir, I must speak out, at the risk of appear-
ing in the character of a mother prejudiced in favour of her son ; ought
I, in fact, to be silent when I consider the interests of one who is my
only delight, and upon whom alone you had built all your hopes ? That
adoption of the I2th of January 1806 was then another political false-
hood ! Nevertheless the talents, the virtues of my Eugene are no illu-
sion. How often have you not spoken in his praise ? I may say more ;
you thought it right to reward him by the gift of a throne, and have
repeatedly said that he was deserving of greater favours. Well, then !
France has frequently re-echoed these praises ; but you are now indif-
ferent to the wishes of France.

I say nothing to you at present of the person who is destined to suc-
ceed me, and you do not expect that I should make any allusion to this
subject. You might suspect the feelings which dictated my language ;
nevertheless, you can never doubt of the sincerity of my wishes for your
happiness ; may it at least afford me some consolation for my sufferings.
Great indeed will be that happiness if it should ever bear any proportion
to them !

No. 4.
PART OF A LETTER SAID TO BE DATED BRIENNE, 1814.

"... On revisiting this spot, where I passed my youthful days, and
contrasting the peaceful condition I then enjoyed with the state of terror
and agitation to which my mind is now a prey, often have I addressed
myself in these words : ' I have sought death in numberless engagements ;
I can no longer dread its approach ; I should now hail it as a boon . . .
nevertheless, I could still wish to see Josephine once more ! ' '

APPENDICES 321

No. 5.

To THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

Fontainelleau, l6th April 1814.

My dear Josephine^ I wrote to you on the 8th instant (it was on a
Friday). You have perhaps not received my letter; fighting was still
going on ; it is possible that it may have been stopped on its way. The
communications must now be re-established. My determination is taken ;
I have no doubt of this note coming to your hands.

I do not repeat what I have already told you. I then complained of
my situation ; I now rejoice at it. My mind and attention are relieved
from an enormous weight ; my downfall is great, but it is at least said to
be productive of good.

In my retreat I intend to substitute the pen for the sword. The
history of my reign will gratify the cravings of curiosity. Hitherto, I
have only been seen in profile ; I will now show myself in full to the
world. What facts have I not to disclose! how many men are incor-
rectly estimated ! I have heaped favours upon a countless number of
wretches ; what have they latterly done for me ?

They have all betrayed me, one and all, save and except the excellent
Euge'ne, so worthy of you and of me. May he ever enjoy happiness
under a sovereign fully competent to appreciate the feelings of nature and
of honour!

Adieu, my dear Josephine ; follow my example and be resigned.
Never dismiss from your recollection one who has never forgotten, and
never will forget you ! Farewell, Josephine. NAPOLEON.

P. S. I expect to hear from you when I shall have reached the
island of Elba. I am far from being in good health.

INDEX OF PERSONS

Excluding NAPOLEON and JOSEPHINE, 'which occur on nearly every page.

ABERCROMBY, Sir Ralph, 49

Abrantes, Mdme. Junot, Duchesse d',
190, 199. 229, 230, 231, 242, 247,
254, 261, 265, 266, 278, 312

Achilla. (See Murat)

Agrippina, 312

Ainger, Canon, 298

Albufera, Duke of. (See Suchet)

Aldobrandini, Prince, 149

Alexander the Great, 185

Alison, Sir A. (historian), 74, 119, 255,
264, 272, 286

Alvinzi, Marshal, 30, 34, 35, 218, 221,

Amand, Saint, see S. Imbert de (author),
4, 172, 199, 212, 221, 223, 243, 245,
251, 256, 257, 267, 269, 302, 304,
307, 308, 312

Amelia (daughter of Eugene), 313

Angouleme, Due d', 190, 196, 197

Anhalt, Prince of, 270

Arberg, Mdme. d', 176

Arch-Chancellor. [Set Cambaceres)

Argenteau, D', 9

Arnault (author), 212

Artois, Comte d', 196, 197

Aubenas, 172, 200, 201, 216, 225, 226,
228, 241, 257, 259, 260, 297, 299

Audenarde, D', 162, 302

Madame Lalaing, Viscountess d',

32, 307
Augereau, Marshal, 24, 38, 57, 70, 90,

154, 196, 214, 254, 255, 267
Auguie, Mile. Aglae Louise, 231
Auguste, Princess of Bavaria (then

wife of Eugene). (See Beauharnais,

Auguste)

Augustus, Emperor, 52, 228

Austria, Emperor of, 186, 197, 218, 223,

240

Empress of, 186

Avrillon, Mile, d', 82, 174, 225, 233,

256,297,299,302,305,311,312

BACCIOLI, Eliza (Bonaparte), 63, 122
Baden, Princess Wilhelmina of, 77, 236,

295

Grand Duchess of. (See Beauhar-
nais, Stephanie)

Prince of, 242, 243, 245, 270

Bagration, General, 187,

Baird, General Sir David, 42, 49, 143

Bajazet, 272

Barante, De (Prefect of Geneva), 309,
310

Barbier (Napoleon's librarian), 307

Barras, Count de, 6, 7, 8, 9, 15, 38,
199, 205, 207, 221, 247, 248

Bathurst, Benj., 154

Bausset (Prefect of Imperial Palace),
267, 269, 273

Bavaria, Elector, then King of, 77,
122, 144, 159, 161, 242, 243, 265,
266, 270, 299

Electress, then Queen of, 70, 161,

243, 265

Prince Royal of, 281

Bayard, Chevalier, 235, 243

Beauharnais, Eugene (Viceroy of Italy),
6, 21, 31, 44, 51, 58, 59, 60, 63, 66,
68, 78, 106, 121, 140, 143, 144, 145,
146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 152, 159,
162, 164, 170, 171, 172, 179, 187,
188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194,

322

INDEX

323

'95) 196, 197, 216, 224, 228, 229,
234, 242, 243, 244, 254, 256, 264,
265, 266, 276, 277, 282, 286, 287,

290, 297, 299, 305, 308, 310, 311,
312, 313, 318,320, 321

Beauhatnais, Auguste(wife of Eugene),
121, 186, 242, 264, 265, 266, 299
Hortense, 6, 10, II, 12, 31, 44,
So, 51, 52, 53, 59, 66, 68, 78, 79, 80,

81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 93,
in, 112, 113, 127, 137, 140, 144,
H7, 149, 150, 151, 159, 1 60, 165,

172, 173, 175, 176, 180, 216, 226,
227, 228, 229, 231, 235, 237, 244,
247, 254, 259, 261, 262, 263, 268,
269, 288, 289, 296, 300, 308, 313,
3H

Stephanie, 78, 80, 82, 84, 85, 86,

89, 242, 243, 244, 254, 271, 295

Fanny (daughter of Count), 243

Beaujon (financier), 302

Beaulieu, General, 6, 7, 10, n, 38, 204,
205, 208, 209

Becker, General, 81

Bellegarde, General, 49, 195, 197

Bennigsen or Beningsen, General, 90,
188, 193, 254

Bentinck, General, 193

Bentley, 227

Berg, Napoleon Louis, Grand Duke of,

82, 137, 144, 147, 148, 150, 172,

173, 263, 308

Bernadotte, Marshal, 38, 41, 57, 80,
81,83, 95, I0 6, "3, 174, 185, 188,
192 193, 246, 254, 255, 257, 279,

291, 292

Desiree (nee Clary), 38, 246, 313
Berthier, Marshal, 33, 57, 141, 214,

224, 229, 246, 251, 259, 265, 270,

280, 292, 302, 303

Bertrand, General, 259, 287, 288, 290
Bessieres, Marshal, 57, 106, 128, 136,

139, 149, 165, 190, 260, 290, 303
Bignon, Baron (historian), 55, 75, 255,

258, 262

Billington, Mistress, 224
Bingham, Captain D. A., 204, 208, 256
Blake (Field - Marshal and Spanish

General), 135, 136, 148, 181
Blucher, Field-Marshal, 83, 192, 193,

J 94, ! 95, 2 46. 250, 278, 291

Bonaparte, Joseph (King of Spain), 21,
38, 77, 128, 143, 150, 187, 191, 196

199, 200, 201, 228, 237, 258, 265,

266, 273, 296, 305
Louis, 50, 53, 59, 77, 172, 173,

214, 220, 228, 26l, 263, 268, 269,
279, 300, 302, 308, 309, 314

Jerome (King of Westphalia), 117

118, 160, 161, 242, 261, 270, 301
Lucien, 228, 229, 230, 247, 253,
265, 266, 297, 314

Caroline. (See Murat, Madame)

Eliza. (See Lucca, Princess of)

Bonaparte Family, The, 317. (Ap-
pendix 2)

Bonpland, Aime, 226

Borghese, Prince, 99, 115

Pauline, 99, 303

Boubers, Countess de, 308

Bouillet (lexicographer), 74, 248

Bouillon, Duke of, 304

Bourbon, Duchesse de, 302

Bourlier, Bishop of Evreux, 311

Bourrienne, L. de, 30, 31, 6l, 155,
226, 228, 229, 230, 237, 239

Boyer (French general, "Pierre le
Cruel"), 196

Brizzi, 89

Brock, General, 187

Brotonne, L. de, 190, 238, 260, 310

Browning, Oscar, 47

Bruix, Admiral, 232

Brune, Marshal, 34, 41, 43, 49, 57,
118, 221

Brunswick, Duke of, 245

Brutus, 294

Bulow, General von, 192, 194, 196

Burdett-Coutts, Mr., 218

Burke, Edmund, 38

Buxhowden, General, 72, 90

Byron, Lord, 183, 314

" B " (probably Bourrienne), 60,

175

CABARRUS, M. DE, 248

Cadoudal, Georges (Vendean chief and

conspirator), 57

Caesar, Julius, 232, 281, 286, 293
Calder, Sir Robert, 63
Cambaceres, Arch-Chancellor, 108, 114,

150, 188, 192, 236, 269, 271, 281,

3 2 4

INDEX

284, 291, 292, 293, 296, 300, 302,
303, 310

Campan, Madame, 191, 242

Caracci, 209

Carnot (member of the Directory and
"organiser of victory"). 200, 204,
205, 206, 208, 209, 210, 217, 223

Castanos, General, Duke of Baylen,
136

Cathcart, Lord, 188

Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza, I, 270,

3S

Cesarotti, 199

Chabot, 219

Chabran, 219

Chambry, M., 58

Champagny, De (Due de Cadore), 153,

262, 270, 271, 292, 298, 302
Chainpionnet, General, 42
Charlemagne, 234, 296
Charles, Archduke, 19, 25, 34, 38, 42,

46, 66, 68, 143, 144. 145, 149, 242,

279, 280, 282, 284, 304
Charles, Prince. (See Charles, Arch-
duke)
Charles XII., 185. (See Sweden, King

of)

Chauvet, 7, 199, 200
Chimay, Prince de, 248
Clarke, General, 196, 210, 221, 291,

292
Clary, Desiree. (See Bernadotte, De-

siree).

Coburg, Prince of, 270
Cockburn, Admiral, 191
Colburn, 229
Colombier, Mile, du, 224
Conches, Baron Feuillet de, 13
Constant, 229, 230, 232, 233, 236, 254,

265, 267, 268, 284, 292, 293, 294,

296
Corbineau, Constant (one of three

brothers, known as les trois Horaces),

98, 99, 256
Corneille, 241
Cornelia, 312
Comwallis, Lord, 41
Correggio, 205, 209
Corvisart, Baron, 52, 153, 233, 293,

305, 315
Courland, Duchess of, 270

Crassus, 185
Cretet, Count, 292
Cromwell, Oliver, 298
Czartoriski, Prince, 241

DAHLMANN, General, 98, 256
Dantzic, Duke of. (See Lefebvre,

Marshal)
Darius, 185

Darmagnac, General, 98
Darmstadt, Prince of, 270
Daru, Count, 256, 257
David, King, 262
Davidowich, Baron (Austrian General),

27, 30
Davoust, Marshal, 44, 57, 69, 80, 81,

84, 89, 143, 187, 246, 247, 255, 282,

292, 293

Decazes, Duke, 269
Decres, Vice-Admiral, Minister of

Marine, 225, 254, 256
Delille, Abbe, 190
Desaix, General, 14, 41, 42, 44, 46,

290

Despinois, General, 215
Dessalines ("James I."), of Hayti, 60
Didot, 172

Dietrich, Mdme. de, 240
Don Carlos, Infant, 126
Ducrest, Madame, 311, 317, 318
Duesberg (botanist), 225
Dumas, Matthieu, Count (General and

historian), 255, 257, 258
Duphot, General, 38
Dupont, General, 65, 69, 101, 128, 267
Dupuis, 104, 260
Dupuy, 219
Durand, Madame, 301
Duroc, Marshal, 191, 228, 230, 252,

270, 275, 291

EDWARD, the Black Prince, 222
Elchingen, Duke of. (See Ney, Mar-
shal)

"Eleanore," 252
Enghien, Due d', 57, 236, 276
England, King George II. of, 43

King George III. of, 43, 46, 64,

70, 218, 223, 238

Esteve (General Treasurer of the
Crown), 161

INDEX

3 2 5

Eugene, Prince of Savoy, 286
Eugenie, Empress, 256

Hortense, Princess, 277

Evreux, Count d', 302

FAIPOULT, Citizen, 204
Ferdinand, Archduke, 143, 147, 279
Prince of Asturias (afterwards

Ferdinand VII.), 118, 123, 125, 126,

127, 128, 194, 195, 196, 266, 268,

269

Fesch, Cardinal, 302
Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, 41
Fontanes, Marquis de, 302
Fouche (de Nantes, Duke of Otranto),

236, 259, 261, 262, 274, 275, 276,

277, 279, 292, 294, 295, 297, 302,

306

Fox, C. J., 77
Foy, General, 191, 196
Francis II., Emperor of Austria (and

Germany), 71, 77, 128, 291, 310,

3ii

Franck, Doctor, 289
Frederick the Great, 67, 249, 283, 286
Frederick I. (Duke, Elector, and King

of Wurtemberg), 238
Frederick William II., 38. (See Prussia,

King of)
Frederick William III., 38. (See

Prussia, King of)
Friand, General, 185
Fulton, Robert, 235

GAUDIN, Duke of Gaeta, 292

Genlis, Mdme. de, 318

George II. (See England, King of)

George III. (See England, King of)

Georges. (See Cadoudal)

Germany, Emperor of. (See Austria,
Emperor of)

Gillray, James, 248

Giraudin, Stanislaus, 261

Godoy, Don Manuel, Prince of the
Peace. 77, 123, 125

Goethe, J. W. Von, 177, 270

Gohier, Louis (member of the Direc-
tory), 43

Graham, Colonel, 35, 192, 214, 215

Gros, Baron (artist), 220, 221

Guesclin, Bertrand du, 235

HAMILTON, Lady, 249

Harpe, General La. (See Laharpe,

General)

Harville, M. d', 70
Hatzfeld, Princess d', 83, 249
Haugwitz, Count von, 71
Hautpoult, General, 255
Haydn, Joseph, 74, 90
Heath, Baron, 60
Hedouville, General, 42, 92
Henri IV., 296
Killer, General, 282, 284
Hoche, General Lazare, 34, 38, 209,

218

Hofer, Andreas, 146
Hohenlohe, Prince, 81
Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Prince of,

277
Holland, King of. (See Bonaparte

Louis)
Queen of. (See Beauharnais,

Hortense)
Homer, 199
Hood, Robin, 39
Humbert, General, 41
Humboldt, Baron von, 226
Hume, Martin, 267
Hutchinson, General, 49

JACQUIN, Von (Austrian botanist), 225
Jahn, F. L. (German patriot), 278
Jeanne of France (Queen of Navarre),

304

Jellachich, General, 70, 145
Joan of Arc, 294
John, Archduke, 144, 147, 287, 290,

291

King of France, 222

Johnson, Dr., vi., 208

Jomini, Baron (Swiss strategist), 192,

194, 204, 206, 211, 213, 214, 218
Joseph. (See Bonaparte, Joseph)
Josephine Maximilienne Auguste, 106
Joubert, General, 34, 35, 42, 43, 219,

220
Jouberthon, Madame (wife of Lucien),

266
Jourdan, Marshal, II, 20, 25,42, 57,

191, 217

Julian, Emperor, 185
Julien, Mile., 153

326

INDEX

Jung, Thomas (or lung), 228, 230, 251

Junot (Due d'Abrantes), 9, 10, 42, 118,

128, 200, 212, 230, 231, 241, 261

KALKREUTH, Count (Russian P'ield-

Marshal), 79
Kaunitz, Prince, 71
Keith, Lord, 46
Kellerman, Marshal (Duke ofValmy),

19, 57, 205, 206, 207, 209, 210, 214,

217

Kellermann, General, 46
Kilmaine, General, 19, 27, 215, 220
King. (See Bonaparte, Joseph), 136
Kipling, R., 129
Kleber, General, 19, 20, 42, 43, 46,

290

Klein, General, 20
Kleist, 192

Kourakin, Alexander, 138, 274
Kray, Baron von (Austrian General),

42, 43, 44, 46
Kutusoff, General ( Prince of Smolensk),

i 88, 189

LABEDOYERE, Madame, 231

La Bruyere, 20

Lacepede, Count de, 189, 296

La Fontaine, 316

Lagrange (mathematician), 190

La Grassini, 223, 224, 228

Laharpe, General, 10, 200, 210

Lannes, Marshal (Duke of Montebello),

9, 45, 46, 57, 68, 69, 78, 80, 90, 136,

143, 145, 147, 219, 275, 289, 290,

291

Lanusse, General Fra^ois, 219
Larevelliere-Lepeaux (Member of the

Directory), 38,43, 217
Larochefoucauld, Mdme. de, 234, 250
La Romana( Spanish General), 136, 138
Las.ille, General, 149, 291
Las Cases, Count de, 117, 207, 224,

229, 232, 259

Latouche-Treville, Admiral, 235
Latour, Von, Count (Austrian General),

29

Laudon (Austrian General), 65
Lauriston, General, 147, 192, 193, 229,

256, 270

Lavalette, Count de, 220, 221, 276
299

Madame, 226, 227, 231

Lebrun (statesman, Duke of Placentia),

71. 3 2

(the poet), 243

Leclerc, General, 50
Lecombe, General, 43
Lefebvre-Desnouettes, General, 139,

275
Lefebvre, Marshal, 57, in, 112, 135,

H5
Lejeune, Baron, 240, 252, 254, 257,

274, 275, 281, 282, 283, 303, 304
Lemarois, General, 67, 239, 256
" Leon," 252
Lestocq, General, 255
Letourneur (Member of the Directory),

198, 201
Leyen, Amelie de la, 305

Princess de la, 171, 308

Liverpool, Lord, 186

Livia (wife of Augustus), 228

Louis, Archduke, 143

Louis XI., 52

Louis XII., 296

Louis XV., 267

Louis XVI., 230

Louis XVIII. (See Angouleme, Due d')

Lucca, Eliza Bonaparte, Princess of,

265

Lynedoch, Lord. (See Graham, Col.)
L , Mdme. (See Larochefoucauld,

Mdme. de)

MACDONALD, Marshal, 41, 42, 145,
147, 150, 192, 196, 287, 292

Mack, General, 41, 64, 66, 239, 246

Macpherson, James, 199

Madison, President, 143, 190

Maelzel, Leonard (German mechanic),
292

Mahmoud IV., 128, 136

Mahomet, 52

Makau, Madame de, 175, 176, 307,

309

Malet, General, 188, 189
" Maman " (Madame Mere, mother of

Napoleon), 45, 50, 224, 227
Marbot, Baron, 187, 267, 274, 275, 283,

284, 288, 290, 291

INDEX

32?

Marchesi (artiste), 224

Marescalchi, 303

Marest, M. de, 213

Maret (Due de Bassano), 57, 67, 187,
189, 270, 271, 292, 302, 304

Marie Antoinette, 230, 249

Marie Louise, 157, 164, 165, 167, 172,
174, 175, 176, 177, 197, 271,296, 298,
301, 302, 304, 306, 310, 312, 314, 315

Marie Therese, 284, 285, 320

Marie Victoire, Infanta, 267

Marmont, Marshal, 69, 150, 187, 196,

197, 198, 207, 210, 211, 222, 248,
292, 315

Masaniello, 52

Massena, Marshal (Duke of Rivoli),
24, 28, 34, 35, 38, 42, 43, 44, 46, 57,
66, 68, 69, 71, 77, 144, 174, 180, 200,
205, 213, 215, 220, 221, 223, 238,
282, 290, 292

Masson, M. Frederic, 61, 224, 239, 242,
247, 250, 252, 296, 297, 303, 305,
307, 309, 3i 2 , 313. 317, 3i8

Maximilian, Archduke, 285

Meerfeldt or Meerveldt, Count von, 69,

145

Melas, General, 43, 46, 224
Melito, Count Miot de, 246
Melville, Lord, 277
Menage, Gilles (scholar), 213
Menard, 219
Meneval, Baron de, 229, 232, 237, 239,

244, 246, 254, 255, 26.4, 283, 289,

295, 296, 297

Menou, General Baron de, 49
Merlin (member of the Directory), 43
Metternich, Prince, 153, 275

Madame de, 300

Michael Angelo, 205

Michaud, L. G., 162, 231, 264, 277

Michelet, Jules (historian), 212

Michot (actor), 229

Miollis, Adjutant-General, 24

Modena, Duke of, 1 1

Moltke, Von, 271

Moncey, Marshal, 57

Monclas, 26

Monnier, General J. C., 43

Montaigne, Michel de, 315

Montebello, Duke of. (See Lannes,

Marshal)

Montebello, Duchess of (La Marechale

Lannes), 145, 147, 289
Montesquiou, Madame de, 175
Montgaillard, 1'Abbe de (historian),

38, 42, 43, 52, 66, 90, 128, 137, 144,

162, 185, 191, 193, 286
Montholon, Count de, 255
Moore, Sir John, 143, 273, 275, 277
Morbach, Colonel, 318
Moreau, General, 14, 19, 20, 25, 29,

30, 38, 43. 44, 46, 57, '88, 192, 205,

217, 223, 279
Mortier, Marshal, 57, 69, 84, 153, 179,

1 88, 196, 224
Moscati, 36, 37

Moulin, General (member of the Direc-
tory), 43

Mourad Bey, 41, 42

Moustache, 44, 114, 115, 140

Miiller (Swiss historian), 270

Murat, King of Naples, 9, 16, 22, 23,
45. 46, 57, 64, 66, 69, 79, 81, 83,
86, 97, 99, 125, 127, 128, 148, 188,

189, 190, 194, 195, 211, 212, 219,
224, 235, 240, 254, 265, 269, 270,

276, 287, 298, 302, 303

Madame Caroline, Queen of

Naples, 99, 158, 190, 235, 252, 254,
261, 290, 298

Mustapha IV., 112

" M ," 45. (See " Maman ")

NAPIER, Sir William, 123, 141, 275

277, 278

Naples, King of. (See Bonaparte,
Joseph)

Napoleon Charles Bonaparte (eldest
son of Hortense), 53, 79, 80, 81, 82,
84, 89, 93, no, 137, 228, 247

Napoleon Louis (second son of Hor-
tense). (See Berg, Grand Duke of)

Napoleons ("the two"), sons of Hor-
tense and Louis, 68, 79, 80, 84, 86,
90, '5i, 174

Napoleon III. (Charles Louis Napo-
leon, third son of Hortense), 127,
238, 269, 303, 307

Nassau, Prince of, 270

Necker, M., 224

Nelson, Lord, 41, 49

Nero, Emperor, 236

INDEX

Ney, Marshal (Prince of the Moskowa),
20, 52, 53, 57, 64, 65, 69, 83, 88,
90, 173, 187, 188, 189, 192, 231,
239, 255

, Madame, 231, 304

Nicolas, Sir Harris (historian), 74

O'DONNELL (Spanish General), 181

O'Meara, Dr., 272

Oscar, Prince (son of Bernadotte), 106

Ossian, 4, 199

Oudet, General, 279

Oudinot, Marshal, Duke of Reggio,

143, 150, 187, 189, 192, 196, 270,

292
Ouvrard (financier), 248

PAER, Ferdinando (msuical composer),

89, 91, 242
Paget, Lord, 293
Palafox y Melzi, Duke of Saragossa,

136

Palatine, The Archduke (Joseph-

Antoine of Hungary), 148
Palmerston, Lord, 272
Paoli, General de, 209
Parma, Grand Duke of, II, 204
Pasquier, E. D., Duke, 162, 253, 268,

270, 276, 281
Paterson, Miss (repudiated wife of

Jerome Bonaparte), 301
Paul, Princess, 70
Paul I. (See Russia, Czar of)
Pauline. (See Borghese, Princess)
Pavon, 226
Pelet, General and Baron,279, 280, 282,

283, 284, 290
Perceval, Spencer (British Premier),

185

Perignon, Marshal, 57
Perigord, Edmond de, 270
Permon, Madame (mother of Madame

D'Abrantes), 230

Philip Augustus, King of France, 296
Philippon, General, 185
Pichegm, General, 57
Pignatelli, Prince of Strongoli, and

Minister of Ferdinand, King of

Naples, 21
Pijon, General, 219
Pitt, William, 77

Pius VI., Pope, 14, 37, 41, 43, 195,

206, 210, 211, 2l8, 222

Pius VII., Pope, 49, 52, 60, 148, 186,

189, 190, 225, 237, 300, 301
Pompadour, Madame de, 302, 320
Poniatowski, Prince, and Marshal of

France, 193
Portugal, Prince Regent of, 125

Queen of, 125

Pradt, Abbe de, 277

Primate, The Prince, 270

Prince Regent, 226. (See George IV.)

Princess, 121. (See Beauharnais, Au-

guste)

Provera (Austrian General), 34, 35
Prussia, Frederick William II., King

of, 38
Frederick William III., King of,

38, 64, 67, 78, 79, 114, 116, 143,

191. 197, 236, 240, 245, 249, 270,

271, 315
Louise, Queen of, 79, 116, 117,

143, 245, 248, 249

Prince Louis of, 78

Prince William of, 270

P , Madame de, 106

QUESDONOWICH (Austrian General), 24

RACINE, 241

Rampon, Colonel, 9, 219

Raphael, 209

Rapp, Count, 194, 226, 227, 285, 294,

295

Raynouard (author), 241
Redcliffe, Stratford de, 186
Regnauld, Count (State Secretary of

the Imperial Court), 296
Remusat, Madame de, 222, 237, 239,

298, 301, 307, 308, 310, 311
Renard, Madame Chateau, 6, 8, 10
Renaudin, Madame de, 216
Rewbell (member of the Directory), 38
Reynier, General, 77, 193, 292
Rheims, Mayoress of, 233
Richard Cosur de Lion, 284
Richmond, Madame, 99
Rivoli, Due de, 35. (See Massena)
Rochefoucauld. (Ste Larochefoucauld,

Mdme. de)

INDEX

3 2 9

Roger-Ducos (member of the Direc-
tory), 43

Rollo the Sea King, 304

Rome, King of (Napoleon II.),
"1'Aiglon," 179, 268, 311, 313

Rosebery, Lord, 234, 276, 315

Rose, J. H., 214, 215

Rostopchin, Count and General, 188

Ruiz, 226

Russia, Alexander I., Emperor of, 67,
71, 115, 116, 131, 132, 143, 179,
185, 188, 190, 191, 197, 241, 243,
249, 264, 269, 270, 271, 272, 303

Catherine II., Czarina of, 30

Paul I., Czar of, 49

SACKEN, General, 195, 196

Saint Amand, Imbert de, 4, 172, 199,

212, 221, 223, 243, 245, 251, 256,

257, 267, 269, 302, 304, 307, 308,

312
Saint Cyr, Gouvion, Marquis and

Marshal, 20, 43, 187, 188, 193
Saint-Hilaire, General, 219
Saliceti, C., 213
Sardinia, King of, 205
Sarrazin, General, 133
Sauret, General, 24, 213, 215
Savary (Due de Rovigo), 99, 108, 125,

158, 165, 239, 241, 246, 251, 258,

271, 272, 274, 276, 277, 292, 294,

297

Saxe-Hildburghausen, Princess of, 238
Saxony, Elector, then King of, 89, 117,

270
Saxe- Weimar, Prince of, 270, 271

Princess of, 270

Scherer, General (French), 42, 198
Schwartzenberg, Marshal, 192, 193,

194, 300, 303, 308
Scott, Sir Walter, 208, 222, 277
Sebastiani, General, 272
Segur, General Count, 241
Selim III., 112
Serbelloni, M., 216
Serent, Madame de, 70
Serrurier, Marshal, 25, 57, 215
Sevigne, Madame de, 260
Shakespeare, 249
Sieyes, Abbe and Count (member of

the Directory), 42

Smith, Sir Sydney, 60

Soult, Marshal, Duke of Dalmatia,
57, 65, 79, 83, 113, 114, 136, 139,
143, 145, 150, 151, 164, 179, 191,
192, 193, 194, 196, 197, 229, 270,
275, 278, 292

Spain, Charles II. of, and his Queen, 267

Charles IV., King of, 112, 118,

123, 125, 126, 127, 228

Queen of (mother of Ferdinand

VII.), 118, 126, 127, 268

Queen of (wife of Joseph), 313

Stabs, 294

Stadion, Count von (Austrian diplo-
matist), 278

Stael, Madame de, Holstein, 310

Stein, Baron Von, 278

Stephanie. (See Beauharnais)

Stevenson, R. L., 298

Stuart, Marie, 249

Suchet, Marshal (Duke of Albufera),
148, 170, 180, 181, 185, 186, 191,
192, 193

Sullivan, Sir A., 249

Sussi, 6

Suwarrow, Marshal, 42, 43

Sweden, Charles XII., King of, 185
Charles XIII., King of, 147

Gustavus Adolphus IV., King of,

143- 243

TALLEYRAND -PERIGORD, Prince, 38,
52, 67, 68, 79, 81, 121, 197, 225, 233,
236, 237, 238, 240, 242, 245, 246,
260, 268, 270, 271, 272, 275, 276,
277, 279,300,302,303 314

Tallien, " Thermidorian," 7, 237, 247,

254
Madame (Princesse de Chimay),

6, 7, 8, 15, 82, 198, 247, 248
Talma, 270
Tamerlane, 272
Tascher, Louis, 98, 114, 137, 171, 256,

305

Henri, 305

Tasso, 245

Tennant, Charles, 13,45

Thiard, M. de, 106, 243, 260

Thibaut, M., 225

Thiers, M. (statesman), 265, 273, 275,

296, 302

Y

33

INDEX

Tolly, Barclay de, 187, 188

Tolstoi, Cqunt, 274

Tone, Wolfe, 41

Tour and Taxis, Princess of, 270, 278

Toussaint-Louverture, 49, 50, 53

Treilhard, Count (member of the Di-
rectory), 43

Tremoille, Princess de la, 309, 310

Treves, Elector of, 65

Tschitchagow, Admiral, 1 88

Turenne, M. de, 116

Marshal, 286

Tuscany, Grand Duke of, 216

T , Madame, 24. (Probably Madame

Tallien)

T , Madame de la, 175. (See Tre-
moille)

T , 60. (Probably Talleyrand)

T , 96. (Probably Tallien)

T , de, 106. (See Thiard, M. de)

T , 237. (See Tallien)

VALERIAN, Emperor, 185

Vandamme, General, 86, 92, 192

Van Dyck, 209

Varin, Regnault, 317

Vaubois, General, 16, 27, 30, 31, 46,

220

Verhuell, Admiral, 269
Veronese, Paul, 209
Victoire, Marie, 267. (See Marie)
Victor, Marshal, 35, 136, 143, 150,

219

Villars, Marshal, 43
Villeneuve, Admiral, 63
Vincent, General, 270
Virgil, 21, 212

WALEWSKI, Marie, 250, 252, 253, 293
Washington, George, 43, 223
Wattier, General, 176
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of,

128, 145, 150, 174, 176, 180, 185,

186, 187, 188. 192, 193, 196, 197,

278, 290, 291, 292
Westphalia, King of. (See Bonaparte,

Jerome)

Wieland, C. M., 270
Wilhelmina, Princess, 236. (See Baden,

Princess of)
William I., Emperor of Germany, 245,

315
Windham, \Villiam (British Secretary at

War), 213
Wittgenstein, General and Count, 187,

188, 192

Woodward (and Gates), 74
Wrede, Marshal (Bavarian Marshal),

'93

Wurmser, Marshal, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28,
32, 35, 38, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217,

2l8, 219, 221, 222, 224

Wurtemberg, Duke of, 64, 68, 77

Electress of, 64, 70, 238

King of, 242, 270, 295

Prince Royal of, 196

Wiirzburg, Grand Duke of, 78, 244

XENOPHON, 205
Xerxes, 281

YORK, Duke of, 43

General von, 189, 195

ZINGARELLI, N. (musician), 242

THE END

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